


Saved by You (Ace x Reader)

by lindalevanima



Category: One Piece
Genre: F/M, Fanfiction
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-14
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-15 19:48:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 29,817
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29441439
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lindalevanima/pseuds/lindalevanima
Summary: (Y/N) is a young pirate captain whose crew was suddenly killed in an accident. She woke up and discovered that Fire-Fist Ace had found her alive and brought her aboard Whitebeard's ship.
Relationships: Portgas D. Ace/Reader
Comments: 15
Kudos: 38





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi everyone! This is one of the first fics I've written, so any feedback would be so appreciated! I have most of this story written already, so updates should be pretty regular. I've spent way to much time on this, but I really enjoyed writing it so hopefully it'll be fun for someone else to read. Enjoy!

_ I should have listened to everyone. I should have known making it to the new world would be impossible for my crew and I. But I am young, and don’t listen. Now we’re here, getting beat down. I watch as members of my crew are taken down. I did this. I was too confident. I’ve failed as a captain _ . We were ambushed by the navy. They’re too strong. I yelled at my crew to get away, but I couldn’t see any making their way back towards the ship. I glanced back and noticed our ship, my ship, in flames.  _ This is it. My entire crew is going to be captured and killed, I’ve failed them. _ I continued to fight, taking out as many navy soldiers as I could, but there were too many. My crew was dropping one by one, and I couldn’t do anything about it. I dodged the swing of a sword coming my way and punched the soldier. I tried to run to get to where most of my crew was, I was separated from them trying to defeat a vice admiral. I didn’t make it far. The vice admiral I thought I had taken out, was still going. I should have known I wasn’t strong enough. Now my crew is gone. My vision started to fade out.  _ This is it. I’m sorry everyone. I didn’t deserve to be your captain. _ I fell to the ground, and I lost consciousness. 

My eyes began to flutter open. The light shining in was bright, too bright. My body hurt.  _ What happened? Where am I? _ My eyes eventually adjusted to the light and I looked around. My body was covered in bandages. I tried to take in my surroundings, but it left me more confused.  _ This doesn’t look like a jail cell. _ I was surrounded by wooden walls, beds, and medical supplies. It’s almost like I’m on a ship, but my ship was destroyed. _ Where’s my crew? Did they make it out?  _ I moved my head and saw a small window. I could only see the sky out of it, which isn't helpful. I attempted to get up, but failed. I fell back into the bed I was on. I heard a footsteps coming closer to me.  _ I have to get out. Where am I? _ I tried to get up again, this time I was able to sit up. I moved my feet and put them on the ground next to the bed and tried to stand up. The footsteps were coming closer,  _ they’re not far. _ My hearing must have been off, because a door soon opened, letting whoever it was that was coming inside to the room I was in. “Woah woah, hey you shouldn’t be standing yet. Your injuries are bad, you need to get back down,” the voice called out to me. I tried to turn to face whoever it was, but failed as my legs gave out and I fell to the floor. Once again, my vision faded. 

I woke up in a panic. _ I have no idea where I am, or what is happening, or more importantly, what happened.  _ I tried to sit up again, but the same voice as before stopped me. “Hey what did I tell you? Stop trying to get up. It’s a miracle you’re even alive. You can’t be moving around yet.” I moved my head slowly to look for the man talking to me. Once my eyes were fully adjusted, I could clearly see him. My eyes grew wide. There was no mistaking him. That black hair, freckles, the orange hat. It was Fire-Fist Ace.  _ Shit. Now I’m really in trouble. What is happening? Why am I not dead? What happened? _ “What happened?” I asked. I winced at the sound of my voice. It was raspy, and barely able to be heard. Ace moved closer to me and sat down. “Where’s my crew?” I asked. 

“I should be asking you what happened. We docked on an island, and I stumbled upon a bunch of navy soldiers taking out a group. So I did what any pirate would do and stepped in, but by the time I got there, there were no survivors except you. So I took you here,” he concluded. My heart dropped.  _ They were all gone. Why do I still have to live? I killed my crew because I was a stupid captain. _ I felt tears threatening to fall, but I wouldn’t allow them.  _ I have to move on. I have to be better, for my crew.  _

“Why?” I asked. Ace looked at me in confusion. 

“Why what?” 

“Why did you save me? Why even bother? The navy was still there when you showed up right? Why did you even get involved? You should have just left,” I managed to get out.  _ This is the Fire-Fist Ace, why was he showing mercy? There’s no way he’s that kind.  _

“Why not?” he paused. “I wasn’t just going to watch the navy slaughter you all.” I stayed silent, unsure if I believed him or not. All the pirates I’ve come across are not kind, they would have just left us. I would have just left us. “Here,” he said to me, handing me a glass of water. I carefully sat up with his help, and quickly drank. I paused.

“Where exactly am I?” I asked, before continuing to drink the water I desperately needed. Ace smiled at me. 

“On Whitebeard's ship.” I choked on the water. I eventually caught my breath. 

“I’m where?” I asked again, hoping I just misheard him. 

“Pops ship. Whitebeard's ship.” I looked over at him in disbelief.  _ No way I’m alive. This is not real. Why would he take in a small captain like I was? My bounty wasn’t that high yet. _ I was attempting to process everything, when Ace spoke up again. “I figured we could make sure you get back on your feet, and Pops agreed. He said he’s been keeping an eye on your bounty, and wants you to join the crew. He thinks you could be a great crewmate and daughter. But he also didn’t tell me your name, so can I get your name?” I froze at what he had just said. He said it so casually.  _ Whitebeard has been keeping an eye on me? How? Why? I can’t join them. They’re the Whitebeard crew. _ I paused a moment too long and Ace began to laugh. “Well you sure don’t like to talk!” I broke out of the trance I was in. 

“Sorry, it’s just a lot to take in,” I paused. “I’m (Y/N).” Ace smiled again. 

“Well (Y/N) it’s nice to meet you, I’m Portgas D. Ace!” he stuck out his hand and I shook it. 

“This is a joke right? I’m just dead and don’t know it.”

“Nope. This is all real. I’m sure you’re hungry. I’ll go let the doc know that you’re up and get you some food.” I watched as he got up and walked out of the room, leaving me to think about everything that had happened.  _ My crew is gone. _ The tears built up in my eyes, and I couldn’t stop them. I laid back down and cried.  _ I messed up. I got them all killed. And now I’m here and freaking Ace somehow helped me, and Whitebeard wants me to join the crew. It’s crazy. I can’t. I’ll just mess up again and get people killed. I have to leave _ . I got up to look out the window, hoping to see an island, any island. I slowly made my way over and looked. I felt my knees drop. All I saw was blue, no bit of land anywhere to be seen. I sat back down onto the bed. There was a knock at the door, before Ace and a woman stepped in. Ace sat down a plate of food on the bedside table, while the woman went over and grabbed some more medical supplies. “I’m going to need to check on your wounds and make sure they’re healing well. You suffered a lot of damage. Commander Ace I’m going to have to ask you to wait outside please,” the woman spoke. I nodded. Ace reluctantly got up and left. I sat up and the nurse began to unwrap the bandages. It was then that I realized how badly I had been beaten. A huge gash, that was now stitched, ran from my arm across my shoulder. I was lucky I hadn’t lost an arm. There were many more minor cuts and bruises all over. I guessed that internally I wasn’t doing great either. “The wounds all seem to be healing well. You’re up sooner than we expected you to be, you almost lost an arm. Keep resting for today and if you’re feeling up to it, you can begin moving around tomorrow. I’ll come back tonight to check and rewrap your wounds,” the woman stated. 

“Thank you,” I replied. I watched the woman leave the room, before I realized I didn’t even get her name. I leaned back and rested my head on the wall, looking up.  _ What have I done? _ I didn’t have much time to think though, because Ace entered soon after the nurse left. “I brought some food from the kitchen!” he said as soon as he walked in. He pulled up a chair and sat next to me again. He grabbed the plate from the table and handed it to me. I didn’t really feel like eating. I was still trying to process everything that had happened. It didn’t make sense. I slowly began to eat some of the food. I ate quietly, unsure of where to even begin. “They’re really all gone?” I quietly asked him. I stared at the food on my plate. I knew the answer, I saw what happened, but part of me didn’t want to believe it. 

“I checked everyone. I’m sorry,” Ace replied. I nodded and tried to start eating again. I felt sick. I had gotten my crew killed because of my own stupidity.  _ Why did I have to live? I should have died with them.  _

“Why has Whitebeard noticed me?” I asked him. He perked up and smiled. 

“Honestly, I don’t know. I asked the same thing when they found me. Pops has a way of just knowing I guess. I did not want to join them and leave my crew behind. It took me months to accept it all.” I nodded again. 

“I get that. But I guess I shouldn’t be reluctant. I don’t have a crew anymore,” I paused and shook my head. “I’m such an idiot.” 

“I don’t think so. Every young captain makes mistakes,” Ace argued. 

“Yes, but they don’t make mistakes so bad that their entire crew is killed.” He frowned. 

“It’s happened before, you wouldn’t be the first. But enough of that. I don’t want to make you focus on the past. There must be some reason Pops has taken interest in you. Did you eat any sort of devil fruit or something?” 

“I did. Didn’t know what it was when I was a kid and ate the water-water fruit,” I answered. I chuckled. “You would think that I’d have better control over it by now.” 

“What do you mean?” 

“I ate it when I was like 4 or 5, so I’ve had these powers for at least fifteen years give or take, but for some reason I still can’t control it well. I can’t get the hang of it.” Ace nodded. We ate in silence for a bit longer, before we both finished. “Well, I should get out of here and let you rest. A lot has happened,” Ace told me. He reached out and grabbed my plate. Before he walked out of the room I stopped him. 

“Ace,” I called out. He turned around to face me. 

“Yeah?”

“Thank you, for saving me and bringing me here.” He smiled at me. 

“Pleasure is all mine,” he replied before closing the door and leaving. I sighed.  _ I have no idea what I’m going to do. There’s no way I can join the Whitebeard crew. As nice as Ace has been to me, I can’t stay.  _ I decided to get a few hours of rest, before attempting to escape. 

I woke up many hours later. It was still dark out. I got up and slowly made my way to the door. I need to find some sort of ship and then leave. I had hoped everyone would be asleep by now, but I still moved quietly. I made my way down a hallway and up a staircase. I found myself on the deck of the ship. I thankfully saw no lights and continued my search. The ship was huge, and I worried about finding a small ship so I could leave. I only had so long before I assumed someone would wake up. I began to walk across the deck, making sure to not make a sound. I made it halfway across the deck, before I began to feel tired. I stopped to take a short break. My body was not doing well. My shoulder hurt, but I tried to ignore it so I could leave. I sat down and leaned against the ship's railing. I focused on my breathing, making sure it was deep and quiet.  _ There has to be some way out of here _ . “Where are you going?” I heard someone whisper above me and yelped. I stood up and turned around, to see Ace. “I-I was just, uh, couldn’t sleep and needed some air,” I replied. He jumped down onto the deck and looked at me. 

“That’s not what it looked like to me,” he argued. 

“Well, that’s what I was doing,” I said louder, forgetting that it was still early, or late, and people could hear if I spoke too loud. He smirked at me. 

“It looked to me as if you were trying to find a way out of here. How were you going to do that when you can’t swim?” 

“Well I definitely wasn’t doing that, and who said I couldn’t swim?” 

“You did. You ate a devil fruit right?”  _ Crap. _

“Yes, but it was the water-water fruit so I can just make my body water and swim.” He laughed. 

“You told me you couldn’t control it completely yet, so I doubt that. Why are you trying to leave? There’s no way off this ship.” 

"I can't stay here," I stated. 

"Why?" I looked up at him, with more tears threatening to fall. 

"Because I'm no good. I was stupid and got my entire crew killed! Why would you all want anything to do with me? You should have just left me to die!" I watched Ace's face fall.  _ Why does he even care about me? I don't know him. We've never met.  _

"Well you can't go anywhere when you're in that condition. It's up to you to decide if you want to join the crew, but at least stay until your wounds are healed," Ace half pleaded. 

"Why are you trying so hard to help me? You don't know anything about me!" I finally asked in frustration. 

"Because you remind me of me." I was stunned.  _ I remind him of himself? How? _ I started to feel weak again and cursed at myself for pushing my body too far. I fell over, but never hit the ground. I looked up and Ace had caught me from falling. I looked at the ground. "Sorry," I mumbled. 

"Let's get you back," Ace replied, before scooping me into his arms. He carried me back to the room I was staying in. I avoided eye contact the entire time, ashamed of myself. Both because I tried to leave the ship, and because I was relying on Ace. It was all weird. I've never had to have someone help, I always push through. It's just my arm, I shouldn't be having so much trouble moving around. When we got back to the room, Ace set me down on the bed. I didn't know what to say. I felt awful. I don't know what I was thinking, but I can't stay here. I can't bring more people down. "Try to get some rest. Breakfast is normally ready around seven. Goodnight (Y/N)," Ace softly said, before leaving the room. I sighed after he left.  _ I'm so stupid _ . I began to break down again.  _ My crew, basically my family, is all dead because of me. Now I'm somehow on Whitebeard's ship, I tried to leave and just made an idiot of myself. I can't stay, but I physically can't get off the ship. I should be stronger than this. _ I eventually fell asleep, feeling guilt, shame, sadness, and anger towards myself. 


	2. Joining the Whitebeard Pirates?

I woke up the next morning, I guessed around eight from the sunlight.  _ I have two options. Go meet the crew, or try to leave again. _ I chose the latter, but then remembered that the ship wasn't docked. I sighed.  _ Maybe Ace was lying. They have to have some sort of raft I can take _ . I got up and felt better than I had before. I still wasn't completely pain free, but I pushed through it. I walked out of the room and onto the deck. It looked like most of the crew was still eating. I walked around, looking for anything to leave on. I walked for a while, before I began to feel dizzy again.  _ What the hell is wrong with me? I should be fine _ . I brought my hand up to steady myself against a wall. _ I have to be stronger than this.  _ I had wandered too far without realizing it. I had wandered into another hallway of rooms. I heard a door open and looked up. _ Of course. _ Apparently I was steadying myself against the wall right next to Ace's cabin. I frowned. He looked surprised at me. "Hey (Y/N)! Man if you were that excited to see me you should have said! I was headed to get breakfast for us," he smiled. I glared at him. Now my plan of leaving was really ruined. If it was another crew member I probably would have been fine to just get pass, but there's no way he's going to let me pass him. 

"I was not coming to see you," I said. 

"You just happened to be standing right outside my door?" He asked. 

"Yes."

"Well if you weren't coming to see me, why are you all the way over here? You would have passed the kitchen on your way over if you were looking for food." He smirked at me, knowing he was going to win whatever this was. I bit the inside of my cheek.  _ I'm not saying it out loud. He knows why _ . 

"I didn't see it. Must have missed it," I said, attempting to smile even though I was annoyed. 

"Hmmm, well I guess I should show you where it is!" He replied and held out his arm. I stared at him and furrowed my brows at him. He rolled his eyes. "Grab on. I'm helping you walk there too."

"I can walk fine," I stated and began to walk away. I made it a few steps before the dizziness returned and I almost fell...again. Ace laughed and caught me. After I was up, he wrapped his arms around me to help support me while I walked. "Told ya," he smirked. 

"Shut up." We made our way back through the hallway and into the kitchen. Unsurprisingly, it was loud and wild. Everyone was eating and talking, some even drinking. I looked around at everyone.  _ I can't stay here, they're so much stronger than I am. I'd get myself killed.  _ Ace walked me to a table and I sat down and waited for him to get me food.  _ I'm completely trapped here. I guess I have to decide what I'm doing. Stay, or leave. _ Ace came back, with people following, and thankfully some food. I quickly dove in and began to eat, wanting to avoid conversation. Unfortunately, I was unsuccessful, or the crew was so pushy. I ended up being forced to introduce myself. After I finished eating, I quickly left the kitchen.  _ There's no point in talking with them if I'm going to leave. And I will leave. _ I could hear Ace run after me, whom I ignored. I got to where I was staying and shut the door. I need to think. 

Thinking didn't go well. First, I thought of all the reasons I couldn't stay. Then how much of a failure I am, before almost breaking down. Finally, my brain started coming up with reasons to stay. I could get stronger if I join the crew, I wouldn't have to lose anyone else. A knock on the door interrupted my thinking, and the nurse walked in. "Hello (Y/N), I'm here to check on your wounds," she said. I sat up to let her remove my bandages. "Thank you," I replied. We didn't talk after that, I let her focus on her job. "I'm surprised at how quickly you seem to be healing," she stated after she had finished replacing the bandages. 

"I tend to heal faster than average," I replied. 

"I see. How have you been getting around?" 

"Fine. I get dizzy if I try to walk too far though."

"Hmmm, it's probably due to the lack of rest you've gotten. It should go away within a few days. The bandages can come off probably in another week, we want to make sure there's no infection until then," she paused. I nodded and she continued, "how are you getting along with the crew?" 

"Fine."  _ I don't know how to feel about all of this yet. _

"Well, if you're feeling up to it, Pops has requested to see you tonight after dinner. He wants to meet you in person. I'll leave you to it though," she told me as she walked out of the room. 

"Thank you again," I replied. When the door shut, I flopped onto my bed.  _ I don't want to think about all of this. I don't know what to do. Everything is so complicated. _ I eventually fell asleep without realizing it. I woke up a few hours later, and was starving. Which reminded me that I was supposed to see Whitebeard after I ate. I took a deep breath and got up. I made my way to the kitchen. I felt slightly awkward as I walked in alone. They all know of me and how I got here, but it's not like I know any of them. I did my best to mask my uncomfortableness with confidence. I walked over and grabbed a plate of food, before sitting down at a table alone. I could feel the many sets of eyes on me, but ignored them. I ate quietly, before the silence was broken by the one and only Ace. He sat down across from me and I looked up. "Can I help you?" I asked. 

"Nice to see you too (Y/N)!" He replied. 

"Whatever." 

"I'm here to show you where Pops is when we're done. I assume you do want to see him?" I thought for a moment. 

"Yeah. I'm hoping he'll clear up a few things." 

"Great! Everyone hopes you'll stay haha. It'd be nice to have a girl around," he announced. I leaned back in my seat. 

"What is that supposed to mean?" I asked harshly. I watched Ace hesitate, he realized what he said and how I could have taken it. His eyes grew wide and he threw his hands out to defend himself. 

"Not like that! We may be a group of male pirates, but we're not animals! I meant it would be nice to gain a family member, add a new dynamic and things!" He tried. I decided to mess with him more. Of course I hoped that he didn't mean the crew wanted me for those purposes, but why not take it further. It's fun seeing him flustered. 

"Guess I'm not pretty enough then," I sighed. "Ahh oh well, wouldn't want you all around me anyway. You're lucky I'm nice, some people would have been offended if you told them all eyes wouldn’t be on them." Ace froze, unsure of how to respond. A small blush formed across his freckled cheeks. 

"Well I-I didn't mean it like that either! You-you're very pretty (Y/N), and I just meant that we always welcome people into the family. An-and it would be cool to have a sister!" I couldn't keep up any longer. I bursted out into laughter. Ace looked at me confused. 

"Haha, oh wow! Ace I'm kidding I know what you meant. Ah jeez, I never thought I would ever see the fire-fist ace flustered. Haha!" Ace frowned and pouted, folding his arms across his chest. After I calmed down I spoke again. "Ahh, well I guess I better get going. Where's Whitebeard?" I asked. The two of us got up and Ace led me to the captain's cabin. While we walked, I began to grow more anxious. This was the Whitebeard I was about to meet. He could probably kill me on the spot! No not probably, he easily could if he wanted to. Maybe Ace and everyone is lying, Whitebeard will send me on my way. There's no way he'd want someone as weak as me on his crew. "Here we are," Ace announced as he stopped next to a door. He knocked on the door, and announced who it was that was knocking. I took another deep breath and the two of us entered. "Ah (Y/N), it's so nice to finally meet you!" Whitebeard began. 

"The honor is all mine, sir," I answered with a slight bow. 

"I was surprised when Ace came back with you. I've heard you've got an interesting devil fruit power?"

"I do I suppose. It's the water-water fruit, sir."

"Yes that's the one. I've been reading about you for a bit (Y/N). Captain (Y/N) of the _____ pirates. You made quite the name for yourself after going up against a few navy ships when you only had, what was it, five people on your crew?" I nodded. "Haha. You've got potential. It's unfortunate what happened to you and your crew. Bad timing. But, we're lucky Ace found you and brought you. It's impressive you survived at all. I want you to join the crew, to become my daughter, what do you say?" I tensed.  _ They weren't lying.  _

"Can I ask a few questions before I decide?" I asked. Whitebeard nodded. "Why do you really want me to join? My name isn't that big, I got my entire crew killed. Why would you want me to join?" 

"You're intriguing. And I think you'd fit in well here. You're welcome to decline, though I hope you don't," he answered. _ Am I really going to do this? Is it really okay for me to join? It couldn't be too bad… eh, what the heck. Let’s see where this takes me... _

"Alright. Fine. I'll join your crew. I don't fully understand why you want me to, but I will. I have nothing else. Thank you for this opportunity," I gave another small bow. When I looked up, Whitebeard smiled. 

"I'm happy to have you, my daughter. After you're healed and cleared to begin working, I'll have you work under Ace. He'll be in charge of training you and making sure you adjust well, and we will go from there." My face dropped.  _ I, me, have to work under Ace? _

"Huh?" I asked. "I have to work with him?" I pointed over at Ace. Whitebeard chuckled and nodded. 

"What's so bad about that?" Ace asked.  _ What's so bad is your kind of annoying and haven't left me alone since I got here. Something about him makes him feel off. _

"Nothing," I quickly replied. "If that's all, I'd like to get some rest now please." Whitebeard dismissed us and we left. As soon as the door shut behind us I collapsed.  _ That was terrifying _ . "Woah (Y/N) are you okay?" Ace asked, bending down to look at me. 

"I'm fine. It's nothing." I quickly stood back up _. Don't be so weak, it was a conversation _ . 

"Here let me help you wa-"

"I said I'm fine!" I snapped. Ace looked surprised at my outburst. I felt bad. I just don't want to look as weak as I am, he doesn't deserve to be yelled at. I looked down, "sorry. You're just trying to help me, I didn't mean to snap at you. A lot has happened and I'm just tired." 

"I understand. If you say you're fine I'll go. Have a good night (Y/N)," he replied. I nodded and began to walk away. _ What's going on with me? I'm being way more emotional than normal. Ace is just trying to help, he's not being annoying, he's just trying to help a person who was hurt. I still don't trust him, but he's now my commander and crewmate now so I have to be nicer _ . When I made it to my room, I didn't do anything else. Tired from all that had happened, I fell asleep quickly. 


	3. Training and Drinking

I was cleared a week later to begin training with Ace. It was harsh. Everyday I wake up and do some strength training with a crewmate that's also under Ace's command, Kai. Kai is a pretty quiet and nice guy, but absolutely ripped, he’s constantly lifting weights though so it makes sense. He trains with a lot of the crew as well. After that I have breakfast, and then the dreaded training with Ace. I knew I wasn't as strong as him, but I didn't expect to get my ass kicked everyday by him. It's really starting to piss me off. I haven't even gotten a hit on him! Everyday I'm sent to the infirmary because of our training. We finish up training an hour after lunch, with a break in between training for lunch. After my daily trip to the infirmary, I'm pretty much wiped out. But of course, I don't get a break. I have my assigned cleaning duty for the day, then dinner and I'm free. I'm worn out and am getting more and more frustrated with Ace. He's at least begun to leave me alone, but it's making me angry. He keeps beating me every day without fail. I usually sneak out during the night and do some training on my own, I have to at least get a hit on Ace. I have to prove that I'm strong enough to be here. Besides him, I'm getting along with the crew well. Everyone is pretty nice and respectful. Marco, another division commander, is nice. He checks up on me and honestly, we normally end up talking about Ace and how much it's bothering me that I can't even get a hit on him. Today the ship is docking at an island for a restock on supplies, but that doesn't mean my training ends. I woke up around six, and got ready to meet up for my strength training with Kai. I walked across the deck and over to the gym. I began stretching as I waited for him. 

"Mornin (Y/N)," he said as he walked in. 

"Mornin," I replied. 

"Ready to get started?" 

"Sure. What are we doing today?" I listened as he told me the routine we'd follow today. Still a normal hour of training. It's brutal, and he's upping the weights and reps of everything. We started going through the routine, and yes, I felt like my body was going to rip apart. I kept going, not wanting to be seen as weak, and finished the routine. By the end of it, I was a sweaty, tired mess. The last thing I wanted to do was train with Ace. I walked to the kitchen, not caring to even shower with how hungry I was. I live on a ship of men, trust me, they don't care. I grabbed a plate, with a bit extra and sat down. I was enjoying the peace. Since I'm up so early, I eat earlier than half the crew so it's typically quiet when I eat. Of course, it was interrupted by the one and only Ace. He smiled and waved when he saw me across the room.  _ Ugh. I've had enough of his energy already. Always so happy to beat me up later. Too early for this. _ "Morning (Y/N)! How are we doing today?" He happily asked, sitting down across from me. 

"Tired," I replied and continued to eat. 

"Strength training going well?"

"Guess so. We just upped reps and weights and stuff. I'm sore though but that's typical," I sighed. 

"Awesome! Today we're doing just an hour of our training and then headed to the island to grab some things," Ace informed me. I tried to keep a straight face, but I was not excited to go train with Ace. An hour of getting my ass kicked is what was going to happen. Then I had to spend who knows how long with him after. Somehow he noticed my face slightly drop. "You sure everything is okay?" 

"Yeah sure, great. Let me finish up and I'll meet you on the deck." I got up and put my plate up then headed to where we would "train". Ace came a few minutes later. We began almost immediately. As expected, my ass was once again handed to me. I have at least gotten better at dodging Ace's attacks, so I was left with less burns and bruises than normal. My hand to hand combat has also improved, even though I still have yet to hit him. About thirty minutes into the training, we were close combat fighting. I swung at him and of course he dodged, either moving out of the way or using his power to turn into fire. The second way of dodging hurt a lot more. This went on for a bit, me missing until I got tired. Ace fought back and swung. I dodged his first punch and grabbed his arm. Mistake on my part because his arm immediately went up in flames, burning my hands. I instinctively let go, unable to react quick enough and use my water powers to save my hands from the burning heat. My eyes widened in fear as I watched his fist, covered in flames, headed straight for my face. I didn't have time to react. I felt his fist make contact with my face, burning my eye, before I blacked out. 

I woke up sometime later once again in the infirmary. I listened to the conversation that was going on. "Ace this is going too far. She's here every day because of you! And now this! She's not going to be able to see out of her left eye for weeks at this rate!" Someone yelled.  _ Great, now I have one less eye for a while. That explains why I can't see half of everything right now. Guess they don't know I'm up. _ "I know I'm sorry! I didn't mean to go that far, it just happened!" Ace argued back. "I didn't think it would knock her out, and I didn't notice the flames."

"Well maybe you should try a different method of training. Her body is being worn out because of the strength training and then getting beat up by you! You need to try a different method. She told you she can't control her devil fruit powers well right? So why don't you teach her how to control it better, and then you can all out fight! Seriously Ace, you're going to make it so she hates you." I bit the inside of my cheek. Whoever it is chewing Ace out isn't wrong, I'm tired and not improving as quickly as I probably should, though it has only been a few weeks. _ If I wasn't so weak I wouldn't be in this infirmary. I should have been able to take a stupid punch. But he shouldn't have to take it easy on me, I should be getting better. How am I not getting better? We're doing so much _ .  _ I’m trying so hard to be strong enough to be a Whitebeard pirate. _ I listened as the person stormed out of the room. I looked over and saw Marco's back.  _ He shouldn't worry.  _ I heard Ace sigh before he sat down in a nearby chair and put his head in his hands. "It's okay you know?" I croaked out. His head shot up. 

"You're up?" He asked. 

"No, I'm sleeping still" I smiled. He smiled back. 

"Sorry about today, I took it too far."

"It's cool. I need to get stronger, you're just helping. I should have been able to dodge it anyway."

"Maybe, but I should have focused and taught you how to use your powers. We're done training today. When you feel up to it, well, if you feel up to it, we can head into town for the supplies," Ace told me. 

"Mmmk. I'll do whatever to get stronger. Give me a few minutes to adjust to seeing out of one eye and we can go," I laughed. 

"Alright. I'll be in my cabin. See ya," Ace said on his way out. I sighed.  _ Having one eye sucks, but I gotta suck it up. _ I got up and tried to adjust. Overall I didn't feel much worse than I normally do after training with him. I took a few painkillers and headed out. I went ahead and took a quick shower before heading to the kitchen to grab a snack. Once I was done I made my way to Ace's cabin. When I got there I knocked, but there was no answer or anything. "Ace?" I called out. I knocked again but still nothing. "Ace are you in there? I'm ready to go." Still nothing.  _ Well I tried. _ I cracked open the door and looked in. I was first surprised to see that his room was pretty organized. Considering the mess all over this ship, I was surprised to see his room was not the same. I looked over and finally found him. Somehow, he'd managed to fall asleep within the few minutes I took. I debated on whether or not to wake him up, or to let him be. I decided trying to wake him up would be too awkward, so I turned to leave. I quietly shut left and shut the door. When I turned to walk away, Marco was there. "Hey (Y/N)! What are you up to?"

"Ace said we were supposed to go to the town and get supplies after training. Then training got short because of this," I motioned to my face that was half wrapped in bandages. "But he said to get him when I was ready, but he's definitely sleeping somehow. Wish I could fall asleep that quickly." 

"Ah haha. Ace does that. He'll randomly fall asleep sometimes. I'm actually surprised he hasn't fallen asleep on you yet with how often he's around you. Normally he knocks out after he eats, he'll probably be up in a few minutes," Marco told me. 

"Weird. Okay, thanks. I guess I'll go find something to do. See ya!" I walked past Marco and back to my cabin. I decided to do some easy training and turn different parts of myself to water. Not more than ten minutes later there was a knock at my door before someone entered.  _ Wow way to give me a chance to answer the door. _ I had been working on just my hand turning into water, and definitely wasn't quick enough to change it back. I looked up and Ace walked in and frowned. "You're not supposed to be doing any training right now. Especially because your hands got burnt," he said. 

"You're supposed to wait after you knock before you enter a room. What if I was changing?" I challenged. "Besides, my hands are fine." I finally was able to change my hands to normal. Ace walked over and grabbed my hands, and I pulled away. "What the hell are you doing?" I asked. Ace quickly backed up, unsure of my outburst. I looked down, "sorry," I mumbled. I put my hands back out and he gently took them to look at them. 

"Well, they could be worse," he mumbled, rubbing over my hands. I was beginning to grow uncomfortable at the contact. When his thumb hit the center of my palm I jumped and mumbled an "ow". It had definitely got hit the worst from the fire and stung when he pressed his thumb against it. He looked up at me. "I'm really sorry about this. I never meant to hurt you so much," he whispered. 

"I know," I replied. "It's really okay. I knew the risks of training with you and training in general." Ace nodded and let go of my hands. He stared at my face for a moment, specifically the eye he had punched. I squirmed a little under his gaze, once again growing uncomfortable. I wasn't used to all the contact and stares. "Alright, you ready to go?" He finally asked. I nodded and we made our way off the ship. It had felt like an eternity since I had walked on normal ground. The last time I was...I lost everyone. I followed Ace into the town, making sure we kept low profiles, mostly because of the bounty on his head. I could pass by without as much risk. We made our way to a street full of shops. Ace pulled a list of all the things we were to get, so we walked through buying what we needed. We were headed to get some lunch when a store caught my eye. A clothing store. Since my ship was burned, I have none of my old clothes. But I also had no money. The clothes the crew gave me were just random items they thought would fit well enough and they wouldn’t miss. Ace must have noticed me slowing down near the store. "Everything okay?" He asked. 

"Mmhm. Just missing my old ship and things," I replied. 

"Well let's go in, I can pay for some things. What you have on is everything you have now right? I'm sure it gets old." Ace turned and headed for the door. 

"No Ace it's fine, they're just clothes I'll survive. It's better than nothing. You don't need to buy me anything," I panicked. 

"Yes they are just clothes, but they're not technically yours. When you first came on the ship your clothes were pretty much useless, so we gathered the smallest clothes we could find for you to wear. I'm sure that you're tired of them, and I think Pops will understand that you want clothes that actually fit. Now let's go." Ace opened the door and walked in. I decided not to think about the part where he said the clothes I had been wearing were useless, and the fact that he had probably seen most of my body. But he wasn't wrong, the clothes I had barely fit. I'm living with a bunch of buff pirates, the smallest clothes they donated were still huge on me. I barely looked like a woman, which wasn't terrible, but I missed wearing the clothes I thought were cute. I decided to keep quiet and followed Ace into the store. 

"Oh, what an adorable couple you two make! How can I help you all today?" The woman running the store asked as we walked in. I ignored the comment about us being a couple, it never would happen. 

"I'm just looking for some new clothes," I said and smiled. 

"Well the woman's section is in the back of the store to the left. Let me know if you two need anything," she replied. 

"Thank you," I paused and turned to Ace, but he spoke before I could. 

"I'll wait here and let you do your thing. Let me know when you're ready to go," he said and quickly turned away and sat on the floor. I thought it was a bit odd how quickly he walked away, it was almost like he was trying to hide his face from me or something. I shrugged it off and headed to the back of the store. I found clothes similar to the ones I had worn before I lost everything. I grabbed a few sizes and went to try them on. Once I got what fit, I headed to the front of the store to meet up with Ace. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised to see him sleeping in the chair, but I really didn't take that long to find clothes. I walked over to him and bent down and began to poke at his face a bit. "Ace~" I said, continuing to tap on his face. "Come on dude I'm done let's go." Still no response from him. "Are you going to miss lunch?" I asked. He slowly began to open his eyes and sit up, smiling at me. 

"Sorry. Let's go," he yawned and stretched. I handed him the clothes to pay for and he looked at me. "Is this all? You sure this is enough?" He asked. I nodded.

"It's enough for now until I get some of my own money to pay for things myself. I'll pay you back when I can." 

"Don't bother," he said while walking up to the counter. 

"What? Don't bother with what? I'm paying you back," I told him. He shook his head and smiled. 

"Don't." He paid for the clothes and we left to get lunch at a nearby diner. We walked in and sat down at a table. We ordered and began to talk. For some reason, conversation flowed easily between us. I’m normally quiet and keep to myself, of course I haven’t told him anything that personal, but it was still weird that he was able to get me to talk so much. We ended up making the mistake of hitting a bar after we ate lunch, afterall we had nothing else we needed to do for the day. A lot of the crew had the same idea we did, and we pretty much took over the bar for the night. I’m not a huge drinker, so I was only on my second drink. Ace however, well I don’t know, I lost count of how many he’s had. Surprisingly, he takes it well though and doesn’t seem as drunk as he should be. I watched from across the room as he and Marco decided to play a drinking game with a few other crew members. I was sitting alone at the bar, watching my new crew members have fun. “What’s a pretty girl like you doin’ here all alone?” I turned and looked at the seat next to me. A clearly very drunk man had taken the seat next to me.  _ Great. This is exactly what I want to deal with, some creep hitting on me.  _

“Who said I’m here all alone?” I asked.  _ I should at least have some fun _ . 

“Well I don’t see anyone sitting next to you,” he argued. 

“Fair point, but I’m not alone. I came with my crew.” 

“What crew?” 

“Well now that’s a secret~” I told him. 

“Can’t believe such a pretty girl like you is a pirate. You’re lying right?” he questioned.

“I’m not lying, I am a pirate. Been one for a few years now, but just joined this crew. You should watch yourself, they won’t like it if I tell them you’re talking to me. My brothers are very overprotective,” I warned. 

“Aw, they can’t be treating you right. I can show you how you should be treated if ya’d let me.” I scrunched up my nose in disgust. 

“Pretty sure I’m fine right here. I haven’t drank that much, and I don’t even know your name.” 

“Aww come on,” he tried, then thought it would be a good idea to try to wrap his arm around me. I had had enough of getting hit on, so instead of his arm going around my shoulders, I turned to grab his arm and flipped him off the chair and onto the ground. He landed with a loud thud, falling into chairs and a table. I paid no attention and turned back to the bar and continued to drink my beverage. Unfortunately for me, he was the type of guy to get much angrier when drunk. If I hadn’t caused a scene already, I was about to. “What the hell? No wonder your face is fucked up! You have no manners you stupid bitch,” the man said as he got up from the ground. I bit my tongue, trying to ignore the guy, but failing. No one likes to be called names. “Hey I’m talking to you, you should look at me when I am!” he yelled. “What kind of crew would even want you on their ship when you have no manners like that?!” That was it for me. I was already self-conscious about joining the crew, and figured they didn’t want me on it, but I knew very well my manners were great. I’m a pirate after all. I got off my chair and turned to face him. 

“Yeah, and you should shut the hell up! My manners are bad? First off I didn’t ask for you to come talk to me, and I would rather die than be that close to you. Second off, I’m a pirate, what did you expect?” I yelled back as I walked closer to the man, I had thrown him far. I was getting ready to fight this guy, when someone got in the middle of it. 

“Hey why are you messing with our (Y/N)? She’s very nice and respectful. You’re not respecting her and I don’t like that! She’s an important person to me, and I’m not going to watch you harass her!” I recognized the voice, Ace once again. The man snarled at Ace, and looked at me. He was pissed for sure, which made me even more pissed. I ran over to where the man was, pushing Ace out of my way. I swung at the man and hit him square in the jaw. He staggered, before regaining his balance and swinging at me, which I easily dodged by squatting because of my smaller frame. I swung my legs around and knocked the man back down. Then, because my hands hurt, I kicked the man in the face, leaving him with a broken nose. I had assumed it was enough to knock the man out, normally it would have been, but the constant training and injuries I had been getting daily had worn me out. The man stood up and ran at me. The bar was loud and I didn’t hear him coming. I heard the man yell out in pain and I whipped around. Ace had jumped in and used his flames and punched the guy back to the ground, knocking him out. 

“Hey what the hell did you do to Nick?!” A voice yelled across the bar. 

“Knocked ‘im out because he was being a dick to (Y/N),” Ace yelled back. 

“Do you know what crew you're messing with kid?” the man yelled back. Ace shrugged. 

“Nope and I don’t really care!” The man started running towards Ace, as well as the rest of the man’s crew. So the Whitebeard crew stepped in and a huge fight broke out in the bar. Everyone was swinging their fists, and blood splattered everywhere. My jaw dropped, I did not expect a huge fight to break out. I figured they wouldn’t actually care that much. Eventually, someone from Nick's crew came at me and we fought. The dude was a huge dick and aimed straight for my injuries. I blocked them and used my power to turn into water. The man’s eyes grew wide in horror. I smiled before I swung at him and hit him in the nose, hurting my hand more in the process, but ignored it. We continued for a bit until he landed a hit right on my bandaged eye. I yelped in pain, and fell over holding onto my eye. I heard someone yell “What the hell is wrong with you?!” before all I could see was a fury of flames. I looked up and watched Ace pelt the guy with punches. “How weak do you have to be to go after someone who’s clearly injured?! Don’t touch her!” he yelled at the guy. I brought my hand up to feel my eye, it hurt worse now than it did when I got it earlier that day. I moved my hand back to look at it and saw blood all over it.  _ Damn _ . I haven’t seen my eye, but they definitely lied when they said it was just a black eye, it must have been burnt badly. When the guy was finally knocked out Ace ran over to me and bent down. “(Y/N) are you okay?” he asked, moving his hand up to my now bleeding eye. I tried to smile at him, but failed because of the pain. 

“Yeah sure, it was just a punch,” I replied. He looked concerned at how much it was bleeding. 

“You’re bleeding. Like a lot,” he stated. I knew that, I could feel blood begin to drip down my face, soaking the bandages, and falling onto the floor. I chuckled. 

“No shit man, I had no idea. But I’m fine really.” I looked past him. Almost all of Nick’s crewmates were on the ground knocked out. Poor dudes, they should have just kept to themselves. The last guy went down and a few of my crewmates came and surrounded me. 

“Oh my God (Y/N) are you okay?” one asked. 

“That doesn’t look good, we need to get her back to the ship,” another stated. 

“Get out of my bar stupid pirates! I knew I shouldn’t have let you in!” the owner yelled at us. 

“Ace, get (Y/N) we need to get out of here,” I heard Marco tell Ace. “Everyone outside now!” he yelled at the crew. They all exited, and decided to either go to a different bar or head back to the ship. 

“Can you walk?” Ace asked me. 

“It’s just my eye. I’m fine,” I replied and stood up. I wish I had drunk a bit more so the pain would be more dull. Ace grabbed a handful of napkins on our way out and handed them to me when we got outside. 

“Here you need to keep pressure on it, the stitches could come undone,” he instructed. My eyes grew wider. 

“The what?” I asked. 

“The stitches, hurry up we need to get you to a doctor.” 

“Ace no one told me anything about stitches! What the hell! How bad is the damage you did?!” I yelled. 

“I-I don’t know! The doctors just told me the skin above your eyebrow was split open so they stitched it, then there’s mild burns around your eye, and then a regular black eye,” he exclaimed. 

“You didn’t think to tell me it was more than a black eye?!” 

“I didn’t think you’d be getting into bar fights!” he argued. 

“Well sorry! It’s not like you’d understand!” 

“Yeah I wouldn’t because unlike you I have to keep a low profile! Looks like that didn’t happen!” 

“Yeah and you would totally let some gross old dude hit on you and try to ‘show you a good time’!” I yelled using my fingers to quote. 

“You could have just walked away and came to one of us! We’re your crew!” he yelled back. 

“Do you even know how stupid you sound?! Clearly you have no knowledge of what men do, it wouldn’t have mattered if I went to one of you and kissed you! He still would have kept trying! You have no idea what it’s like! It doesn’t matter if you say no, or walk away because they don’t care! They don’t listen and they use force to do what they want. I don’t want to relive my past. So I’m so sorry I ruined your night! I’m so sorry that I tried to defend myself this time. I’m sorry for trying to get away! You’re all the same aren’t you? You don’t care about women because we’re all just pretty little toys! I’m a person! And I’m not going to let someone do anything to me anymore, or to anyone else! So why don’t you just shut up and leave me alone!” I screamed. I didn’t notice the tears starting to flow down my cheek. I didn’t care that I said too much, or was so loud that people are watching now. I knew by the end of my outburst I was no longer talking about Nick or what had just happened. Ace looked shocked and concerned, but didn’t say anything. I grabbed the napkins from his hand and quickly walked away. I didn’t want to talk anymore, about anything. I walked away quickly and didn’t look back, leaving Ace standing outside of the bar in shock. I brought the napkins up to my eye and pressed, once I was far away from everyone in sight, I began to run to the ship. I didn’t want to give anyone a chance to catch up to me to talk to me.


	4. The Aftermath...

When I finally made it to the ship, my tears had stopped completely. “(Y/N) are you okay?” “What happened?” I heard people ask me as I walked past. I ignored their questions and headed straight to the infirmary. I walked in and slammed the door behind me. I had hoped the walk/run here would calm me down, but it didn’t. I was trying to shove memories of my past down, but it wasn’t working well. The nurse that normally looks after me looked up at the door. She gasped. “(Y/N) what happened?!” she asked. 

“Bar fight,” was all I answered. 

“A bar fight? Is it just your eye that was injured more? Any devil fruit powers used?” she questioned. I knew she was just asking what she needed in order to make sure I was okay, but I wasn’t in the mood to talk about it. 

“Yes, bar fight that I accidentally started, but I don’t want to talk about it. You can ask another crew member about it. No powers, just a regular guy. Eye hurts the most,” I responded. The nurse nodded in understanding. I knew she would understand a bit more than all the stupid men on this ship. She had me sit on the familiar bed and began unwrapping my bandages. She cleaned the blood and looked. I watched her squint her eyes at the wound. “I honestly can’t tell if we need to redo your stitches,” she began. “I think we should wait for Marco to get back.” I nodded. 

“Okay, I’m guessing he’ll be back soon. He saw before I left,” I told her. 

“Use this to keep pressure on it,” she handed me a towel and I obliged. “Anywhere else hurt?” I opened my right hand to look at my palm. As I expected, I had made it bleed when I curled my hand into a fist to punch Nick. Obviously this normally doesn’t happen, but because it had been burnt earlier by Ace, the skin was more sensitive. I showed my hand to the nurse and gave a small smile. 

“My palm from punching the guy,” I told her. She smiled back and looked at it, before disinfecting it and wrapping it. 

“You sure you don’t want to tell me what happened?” she softly asked while finishing up the wrap on my hand. I thought for a moment, and took a deep breath. 

“Well, we went to a bar and I was sitting alone, which I should have known was a mistake. A guy hit on me, and tried to touch me, so I kind of flipped him off of his chair and into a table. Which in turn started a fight with another crew. I didn’t dodge in time for a different guy to hit my face,” I told her. 

“Understandable. I would have done the same if I were you,” she said with a smile. I smiled back. I was glad to have at least one other female on the ship that understood a bit. A few moments later, Marco walked in. 

“Paula, we're going to have a lot of people in here tonight. There was a bar fight. (Y/N) got hit and should be here an-” 

“I’m here already Marco,” I interrupted. He looked up at me. 

“Oh good. Are the stitches still in place?” he asked Paula. She shrugged. 

“I honestly can’t tell.” While Marco put some gloves on, I lowered the towel so he could look. He gently lifted my face and looked closely at it. He frowned and sighed. “We should redo them,” Marco finally concluded. “Paula can you go get the supplies from the supply room, we’re almost out?” Paula nodded and walked out of the room. I put the towel back up to my eye. Once Paula was gone, Marco broke the silence. “Hey (Y/N), are you really okay?” he softly asked me. 

“Yeah why wouldn’t I-”

“I didn’t mean like that,” he interrupted, and paused to look away. “I meant with what happened with Ace after the bar fight, it sounded like you were talking about something more,” he finished softly. I tensed up. I should have known people would have heard and known I wasn’t talking about the fight any longer. I gulped. _ I don’t know how to respond.  _

“I-,” I paused. “I don’t know. I don’t really wanna talk about it, but I shouldn’t have taken my anger out on Ace. I was a bit harsh wasn’t I?” 

“A little bit, but Ace is also an idiot and shouldn’t have gotten upset either. I won’t make you talk to me, but I want you to know that I’m here for you (Y/N). Everyone had a hard past.” I nodded. When Paula got back, Marco began to restitch my wound. Unfortunately for me, the only way to numb the pain was with alcohol. Ace and I picked up more medicines, but he hadn’t come back yet with them. I downed another bottle, and Marco began. He undid what was left of the stitches and began to restitch. I tried my best to hold still and act like it wasn’t painful. Everytime I winced, Marco would apologize. Once he was done, he rewrapped my face with bandages. “How bad is it really?” I asked. 

“Well, honestly you should be fine. The skin on your eyebrow busted when Ace originally punched you, and it’s slightly deeper now so it’ll probably scar. The burns around your eye thankfully aren’t too bad, though I do want to make sure you come in and get the wrapping changed daily. Other than that it’s a black eye. You should be able to take the bandages off in a few days to a week, the stitches will come out later though. Overall though, you will recover fine, but it’s likely you’ll have a scar across your eyebrow,” he finished. 

“Thank you Marco,” I smiled. I got up to leave the room. It was dark out and I decided to head back to my cabin to change. I ended up falling asleep on my floor and waking up an hour later. When I was up, most people had settled in for the night. I left my room to go get some water. Once I had drunk a ton of glasses, I decided I should go see Ace.  _ I need to apologise for earlier, I shouldn’t have exploded. I let my anger get to me and was too harsh. Half the things I said weren’t even directed at him.  _ I walked to his cabin and knocked. No reply.  _ He had come back right? What if he didn’t? Is he okay? _ My mind started to overreact, and I knocked again. Nothing.  _ I’m sure he’s fine, I’ll just talk to him tomorrow _ . I turned to leave and began to walk. When I turned the corner I ran face first into someone’s bare chest. “Ack! Sorry, I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going,” I mumbled as I backed up and looked at who I had just run into. It was Ace. “Ace,” I softly said. We stared at each other for a moment in silence. “I was actually just looking for you,” I finally broke the silence. 

“For me?” he asked. I nodded. 

“I wanted to apologise for earlier. I shouldn’t have exploded and I was too harsh. The things I said weren’t really directed at you. I know you’re not like that. So I’m sorry for exploding.” 

“I’m sorry too. I was being stupid and wasn’t thinking straight. Sorry I upset you,” he replied. I smiled at him, but he didn’t smile back. My face dropped and I began to worry.  _ What did I do? _ “Are you,” he paused and looked in my eyes. “Are you okay? Really, I mean? Did something happen?” I froze again. I didn’t want to lie to him, but I also really just wanted to push away my memories and feelings of the past and ignore them forever. 

“Not really,” I paused. “But I don’t really wanna talk about it.” 

“Okay. You know you can talk to me right?” he asked. I nodded and looked away. “Can I, uh- nevermind forget that,” he stuttered. 

“No say it,” I prompted. 

“It’s stupid, it won’t help anyway.” He looked away. I furrowed my brows, well, the brow I could move. 

“Oh come on tell me.” I nudged him. “You said I could talk to you, and I feel the same. You can tell me. I won’t laugh or anything.” He sighed. 

“Can I give you a hug?” he asked so softly I barely heard it. I felt my face heat up a bit. 

“Wh-what?” I asked almost just as softly. 

“Can I give you a hug? You know to make up for our argument and comfort you and stuff, because I upset you and I feel bad,” he replied slightly louder. 

“O-okay.” Ace moved forward and hesitantly wrapped his arms around me. I hugged him back, feeling super awkward. It was horribly awkward. I wasn’t used to physical contact, and couldn’t tell you the last time I was hugged by someone, or enjoyed one. Not to mention he didn’t even have a shirt on, so I felt closer than I should. Memories of my past flashed through my mind, and I shut my eyes.  _ No, I’m stronger now _ . I hugged Ace tighter and moved even closer to rest my head on his shoulder. I nuzzled into it, taking in his scent of smoke from the campfire that is himself, wanting more comfort, wanting to forget my past, to overcome it. We stood for what felt like an eternity. But I grew more and more relaxed through the hug, and found myself not wanting to let go. Sometime through the hug I could feel Ace rubbing circles on my back. It felt nice to be comforted by someone who I could trust, and I found my trust in him growing more. I felt at peace for the first time in a very long time. We eventually broke the hug and I looked down, too embarrassed to look at him. “Thank you,” I whispered. “I needed that more than I thought I did.” I looked up slightly so I could see Ace’s face. I was worried he’d look uncomfortable. But he stood with the tiniest smile on his face and a faint blush. 

“Anytime,” he whispered back. “Take a day off tomorrow from training, you need and deserve it,” Ace quietly told me, not wanting to make the peace we felt leave. I nodded. 

“Thank you, have a nice night Ace.” 

“You too (Y/N). Goodnight.” 

“Goodnight,” I said as I walked away. I got back to my cabin and laid down.  _ That was...nice. Why do I feel like this? Every other time I’ve been given affection like that, I feel gross after. Maybe it was because this time, I wanted it? Did I though? I feel safe and at peace, it doesn’t make sense. _ I looked over at the time. Eleven at night, I should sleep. I got up to change into some pyjamas, before realization hit. I hadn’t changed from earlier, meaning I was still in clothes that were drenched in blood and sweat from the day. My jaw dropped. And I just hugged Ace.  _ Surely I smell awful, and I probably got blood and sweat all over him! What is wrong with me?! Now I feel bad I hugged him for so long, he was probably just trying to be nice and didn’t want to tell me that I smell and should leave and take a shower, or at least change!  _ I sighed and changed into something more comfortable to sleep in. As soon as I was done changing there was a knock at my door. Confused at who would need me so late, I went and opened my door. No one was there, so I was even more confused, before I looked down and saw a bag. It was the bag of the clothes Ace had gotten for me. I smiled and picked them up, and brought them in. I set the bag down on my bed and began to take the clothes out to put away, when a small paper fell. I furrowed my brow and picked it up. “ Wouldn’t want to get caught with these and give people the wrong idea ;)” the letter said. I smiled. Obviously the note was from Ace. I finished putting the few clothes where they belonged and hopped into bed. Surprisingly, I didn’t think much before I fell asleep. Maybe it was because I was so worn out, or maybe it was because of a certain someone. 


	5. Celebrating

The day had finally come, the day I get to take this stupid wrapping off. It had begun to get really annoying, only seeing out of one eye for an entire week. Marco originally told me it could be a few days, but he forced me to keep them for a week. And the stitches itched. My training had continued, mostly like normal, but Ace went easier on me and we've just been working on me gaining control of my devil fruit. I woke up extra early today so I could finally go see with two eyes again. As soon as I was up, I went straight to the infirmary. The ship used to be confusing, but now I'm easily able to find my way around my new home. It had been a bit since I'd been to the infirmary, I had been getting much smaller and easier wounds to deal with because of my new training, so I hadn't needed to go. I walked into the infirmary and smiled. "Hey (Y/N)! You ready to take off the bandages?" Paula asked. 

"God yes I am. I want to see," I replied. I sat down on the bed and patiently waited for Paula to unwrap the bandages. When it was off I finally opened my eye for the first time in a week. I should have known it would be sensitive to light. I squinted and could barely see out of it. Paula handed me a mirror so I could see what my face looked like, she avoided letting me see my face, more specifically my eye, I guess she was afraid I'd be angry if I saw what it looked like. I looked closely. Sure enough, I was going to have a scar that ran through my eyebrow. _ Cool I guess, I don't mind. _ My eye was still a bit swollen and red from the burns, but it wasn't too bad. The stitches looked kinda gross, but they're stitches. I smiled at Paula as my eye was finally adjusting to the light. "Feels great!" She smiled. 

"Alright. I'm going to clean it up before you go and give you this," she handed me a bottle of lotion. "It should help with the burns and pain, make sure to put it on daily. Then still keep up with your weekly visits until the stitches can come out." I nodded and took the bottle. 

"Sounds good. Thank you Paula!" I said while running out of the room. I ran across the deck and back to my room. I set the bottle down, and then ran again to make it to my strength training. The training went well. I'm actually beginning to enjoy the strength training, and I'm starting to see a lot of improvements. I ate my breakfast quickly, excited to go train, which is something that had begun to change. Now that I'm not getting beat up everyday, I'm actually okay with training with Ace. I then ran to where we trained to begin. I stretched and began to train on my own, because Ace wasn't there yet, not too surprising considering how serious he took his sleep. We'd been working on me switching from my body to water more quickly. As well as different ways I can use the power in battle. I was practicing for a while waiting for Ace and thought it was weird for him to be this late, but I figured he was probably still asleep. I was working on a new move, basically a shot of water, but pressurized like a bullet, when a rock came flying at me. I immediately reacted and aimed for the rock that was headed straight for me, and shot water at it. The water hit and the rock split into a bunch of smaller pieces before falling to the ground.  _ Who the hell? _ I heard someone begin to clap. Ace dropped down from the upper deck in front of me. "Well look at what you can do when you can see with both of those pretty eyes of yours!" He smiled. I shook my head. 

"The eye that you so kindly took out," I reminded him. He put a hand on his neck. 

"Sorry again about that. But now you're back and ready! And that move is working well!" 

"I guess so. I'm glad it did or I probably would have actually lost my eye," I rolled my eyes. 

"Nah, I knew you'd hit it," he said confidently. 

"And if I didn't?"

"Then I would have hit it so it wouldn't have hit you. Can't let you lose an eye again!" 

"If you're idea of splitting the rock with your fire to save me from the flying rock, that doesn't count. The flames would have hit me instead, and then probably chunks of rock after that, which would have made it worse than if the rock just hit me," I reminded him.

"You would have moved if I did that. Your senses have gotten sharper and you’ve got two working eyes again. If I threw that rock before we started our training you wouldn't have reacted as fast," he argued. 

"Whatever you say, fire face."

"What did you just call me?" He challenged. 

"Fire face. You know like fire fist, but your face instead because you're dumb," I informed him. "Just thought of it now. I like it, it's sticking."

"I'm not dumb!" He argued. I looked at him and gave him a look. 

"You barely think things through before you do them. I think that qualifies as dumb."

"But they always work out eventually!"

"Yes, by some miracle. You're a good fighter but also a little too reckless at times," I concluded. 

"Well at least it's fun!" I smiled.

"At least it's fun," I repeated. Ace and I began to train after that, continuing to get me to take control of my power. After we were done, Ace suggested we fight to see progress. I was nervous about it, but agreed. I was determined to land a hit on him, at least one. "I'm going to do it today," I warned him, smiling. 

"Do what?" He asked. 

"I'm gonna get a hit on you," I announced. He gave me a small smile. 

"You can just use your words to hit on me (Y/N), that would be enough for me," he teased. I rolled my eyes. 

"Words wouldn't get through your thick skull," I smiled. I began the fight with the new move I had close to mastery. I shot the water at him, and he dodged. A huge circle of flames made its way in my direction, and I moved the best I could while making the parts of my body that would be hit, turn into water. I smiled to myself.  _ Haha finally dodged that. _ I sprinted to get to Ace and swung again, and he dodged. But I thought he would, so when he ducked down I brought my foot down and hit him. "Hahaha I did it!!!" I shouted. Finally, I had landed a hit on fire face Ace. I threw my hands up in celebration and spun around. "Hahaha yes!" I was too caught up in my celebration, that I hadn't noticed Ace had gotten back up. My back was facing him, and he tackled me from behind. I fell face first and tried to get out of his grasp, but Ace flipped me over and pinned me down, looking at my face. 

"What were you saying?" He smiled. I frowned a bit. 

"I said that I finally got you! So take that!" I happily said. 

"Mmm, looks to me like it didn't do much considering where you are," he reminded me. 

"Well I was excited. I finally hit fire face!" 

"Barely," he teased. I pouted. 

"Whatever. It was hard enough to keep you down for a bit," I argued. 

"I was only down to make you feel better, but you are doing better with close combat. If this was a real battle though, you'd be a goner."

"Who said?" 

"Me. It doesn't look like you're going anywhere," he answered. I smirked and shook my head. 

"There are a multitude of ways to get me out of this, I'm just too nice and don't want to hurt you too much," I laughed. He looked confused and I laughed more. 

"I don't think so. What can you ev- argh!" I interrupted Ace by getting out of him pinning me down. I warned him, I didn't want to have to headbutt him, but he had to know it wasn't over. While he was in pain, I flipped my weight and pinned him down and smiled, before realizing his nose was bleeding now. I sighed. 

"I told you I didn't want to hurt you, but I guess that's two hits now. Even more than I thought I would." He laughed. 

"I didn't not expect that honestly, but you still haven't won," he replied. He brought out his flames where my hands were holding his wrists. Again I expected it and turned my hands to water, unfortunately I didn't think about the fact that water can't hold someone down. So Ace pushed me off, and I fell onto my back. I quickly got up before anything else could happen. "Close one," he smiled. I bit my lip.  _ I have no idea where to go from here _ . I watched Ace, he stood ready to fight, nose still bleeding. I ran at him again and we exchanged dodging punches. Ace almost hit my messed up left eye again, but thankfully I was able to dodge, barely. Instead of my eye he hit my jaw, which popped with a loud noise. I grabbed my jaw. "Damn Ace!" I yelped.  _ That hurt like hell. _ Ace's eyes grew wider with worry and he brought his hands up to my jaw. 

"Shit (Y/N) sorry! Let me look," he asked. I let him look at my jaw and sighed. 

"Here I thought I was done getting beat up by you," I laughed, then winced from the pain. 

"You've gotten better still," he commented, turning my face away. He ran his hand across it. "I think it's just popped out of its socket," he mumbled. "Hang on, this will hurt. I can fix it." My eyes grew wide. And I pushed him further away. 

"Like hell you're going to fix it! Go get Marco or someone!" I said. "Do you even know what to do?" 

"Well yeah, I wouldn't do it if I was afraid it'd mess it up more. I don't want to hurt you. Just come here and let me fix it," he pouted. I frowned.  _ It hurts a lot. I should trust Ace, even though he's stupid, he cares for his crew. _

"Fine," I mumbled. Ace came closer and reached for my face. With one hand on my jaw and the other on the other side of my face, he pushed. There was a loud pop and I yelled in pain. "Shit man what the hell?!" I yelled. 

"I told you it would hurt. Let me see if it's back in place already," he whined. He ran his fingers across my jaw and up. I pouted and our eyes met. I stopped breathing for a second when he smiled at me. I hadn't realized how close he was, or how gently he was touching my face. I felt my face heat up a bit. "See," he began. "It's back where it should be." He backed away and stretched. "We're going to have to start fighting more. I think you're ready. You're starting to pick things up fast, of course we'll still focus on you gaining control of your devil fruit power."

"Thanks. And okay sounds good I guess," I mumbled, still slightly flustered. 

"I think we should be done for today. I unfortunately have paperwork to finish up," he concluded. I laughed. 

"You? Doing paperwork? Nice one!" He frowned. 

"I'm serious. Pops takes paperwork seriously. It's time to switch up the chores and I gotta figure it all out." I furrowed my brows. 

"Give me an easy one," I smiled. He laughed. 

"I think you need the hardest one for training," he teased. 

"Noooo," I whined. Then Ace did something I never thought he would do. He walked over and ruffled my hair while smiling. "I'll see what I can do," he said, then turned and walked away. I watched him leave the deck and go down the hallway to his cabin. I stood there confused. _ What was that? _ I brushed it off and headed to go finish my chore. I just had to mop the kitchen, so I headed there. I tried to finish up as quickly as I could. I wanted to take a nap, and then do some more training on my own. I ran across the kitchen and to the door, but tripped because I literally just mopped and I'm an idiot. I slid and two arms shot out and caught me. I looked up and saw Marco. I smiled. "Haha thanks Marco!" He shook his head at me. 

"Now I know why you're always in the infirmary. It's not just you messing around with Ace," he chuckled. 

"Hey this doesn't happen that often! And what do you mean messing with Ace?" I asked. 

"I saw you two earlier. That did not look like training to me."

"It was!" I argued. 

"Maybe not your typical type~" he teased. Now I was mad.  _ There's no way Ace likes me like that. We're just friends. He's my commanding officer. That's it. It doesn't matter how I feel. It would never happen. _

"You just saw something out of context. For your information I landed two hits on Ace today!" I told him, hoping to change the subject. 

"Getting better? Good," he smiled. "Where are you headed to in such a hurry?" He asked. 

"My room," I half lied. He had strictly forbidden me from doing any training on my own so my body could rest, but I think that's a bunch of bullshit. 

"Alright, see ya," he waved and walked past me. I went to my room after. There's no way I can sneak and train, I'll have to go at night. I decided to nap until dinner. I woke up and showered before heading to the kitchen. It was loud as usual, everyone was having a good time. I grabbed a plate of food and sat, this time at a table with Ace, Marco and Thatch. We greeted each other and I began to eat. They continued their conversation and I listened. 

"No, then you got so drunk that we had to carry you back to the ship!" Marco argued. 

"I wasn't drunk! I had another narcolepsy attack, it's not my fault. They've gotten better but back then it wasn't as controlled because I wasn't sleeping at night," Ace pouted. 

"A sober you doesn't go around asking girls to hold your hand Ace," Thatch laughed. Ace pouted and got a little flustered. 

"Aww look at who's embarrassed~" Marco teased. 

"Am not!"

"It's because (Y/N) is here huh? You wouldn't care if it was just us."

"I'm not embarrassed!" The two men laughed at him. 

"Everyone has drank a bit too much at some point Ace. You just happen to get super clingy when you do," Thatch laughed. Ace pouted and gave up. I smiled and continued to eat my food. 

"What about you (Y/N)? What are you like drunk?" Marco curiously asked. I thought for a moment. 

"Mmm honestly I haven't gotten drunk in a long time. I'm not entirely sure," I lied. I avoided getting drunk because of my past. I didn't want my senses to be dulled ever. I couldn't risk something happening again. 

"We'll have to change that!" Thatch announced. I smiled. 

"Good luck with that. I prefer not too," I replied.

"That's no fun!" Marco argued. I shrugged. 

"What if just the four of us went?" Ace suggested. 

"I don't know guys, I'd really rather not…" I mumbled. I didn't want to tell them the reason why. I know I could trust them, but it's still hard. 

"We'll make sure you don't do anything! We don't even have to go anywhere, we've got nothing to do tonight! Besides we never officially celebrated you joining us!" Thatch tried. I knew there was going to be no way out of it. These are my crew mates now, I can trust them. I sighed. 

"Fine. But I swear if I regret this I'm going to hate you three." They smiled. Marco ran to grab drinks and the night began.

I lost count of how many drinks I had had. Ace and I were currently competing to see who could drink the fastest. He was winning and I was not having it. He slammed down the last glass on the table and everyone cheered. I frowned. "God why do you have to win at everything?!" I shouted. He smiled at me. 

"Cause I'm the best," he answered. 

"Best at having a dumb fire face," I muttered. He faked being offended. 

"Ouch (Y/N) that one hurt. Going after my precious face."

"Well you didn't seem to care about mine by how many times you've messed it up! So why should I care about yours?"

"I do like your face!" He argued, then realized what he said. "I mean it's fine I guess…" “Let's go again," I insisted. 

"What?"

"Let's go again, fight me."

"(Y/N) I'm not going to fight you right now," he stated. 

"Well why not? Are you scared of getting beat by a girl?" I teased. "Ace is a scaredy cat!!!" I screamed to everyone. The crew laughed. "Fine if you won't fight me then I'm challenging you to this drinking game again!"

"I've won every round (Y/N)," he argued. I shrugged. He finally agreed and we raced again. I was slamming down drink after drink trying to catch up to Ace but he won again. "Ugh!!" I yelled. Ace smiled. "Again!" I demanded. 

"I'm not drinking anymore (Y/N), I'm not getting drunk tonight and I'm tired." I pouted. 

"You're lame fire face."

"And you've had enough to drink."

"Noooo I haven't stupid," I argued. 

"Yeah? Then get up and walk," he challenged. I smiled and stood up and began to walk. I thought I was doing well, until I heard the entire crew laughing at me. I quickly turned around to yell at them, but the world spun and I fell over. "I'm okay!" I yelled from the ground. I slowly got back up, and once I thought I caught my balance, I tried to walk again. My face met the ground after I lifted a foot. I didn’t attempt to move, instead I sprawled out onto the floor and frowned, my mood quickly changing. "Aceeee! I'm tired," I whined. Ace got up from his seat and came over to me. He bent down and pat my back. "I wanna go to sleep now," I yawned. 

"Then let's get you to your cabin," he responded. I sighed and rolled over to look at him. 

"Help." He smiled and offered me a hand. "I can't walk, the ground is spinning," I reminded him. 

"Get on my back then," he told me as he bent down. I jumped onto his back and he wrapped his arms around my legs. Before leaving the kitchen, he said his goodbyes to everyone. When we left the kitchen, a gust of wind hit and I shivered. The temperature had drastically dropped since I had started drinking. I buried my face into Ace's back, trying to get warmer. "Do you ever get cold?" I mumbled into his back. 

"No. I'm literally made of fire," he reminded me. He continued to carry me to my cabin in silence. My drunk thoughts broke the silence. 

"If you can't wear a shirt because you'll burn it then how do you wear pants?" I asked. He chuckled. 

"I can control my fire (Y/N), I don't burn clothes that go on me."

"Then why don't you ever wear a shirt? Are you just showing off your abs?"

"I get hot easily." I nodded, pondering his answer. 

"Hey I've got an important question," I announced. 

"What is it?"

"If you and one other devil fruit user were alone and one of them fell into a river or some other form of water, how would you help? I mean you can't jump in or you'll drown with them! And we sink fast in water too so you can't just throw something in to catch them," I rambled. 

"I don't know what I would do. Is this something you're worried about?" He asked, confused. 

"Yes very much. I've never been stuck alone with another user because I was the only one on my ship. But now I'm here and you're one to, so what if we get stuck together and you start drowning in the water! That would be horrible! I don't know what I'd do." 

"I don't think that's something you need to worry about (Y/N). I won't fall into any water if we're alone."

"Then what if I fall in? I'm stupid. What if I forget and go running in?" I asked genuinely concerned. 

"I'd stop you before you could go in. You're not that stupid." I started to get angry. 

"Yes I am. What captain gets their crew killed? I'll tell you. A stupid one. What person can't control their own power? A stupid one. What person sucks so much at fighting and gets hurt all the time? A stupid one. So therefore I am stupid. And no one likes stupid people!" I cried. A few tears left my eyes. 

"Well, I don't think you're stupid. And if you think you are, then I guess I love stupid people." "I-I mean that stupid people aren't that bad," he quickly corrected. 

"You're just saying that. I mean, why did I survive? I shouldn't be alive. I should have died back with my crew. I'm going to disappoint them." Ace stopped in his tracks and put me down.  _ Now he's going to leave too _ . He turned around to face me and out his hands on my shoulders. 

"(Y/N), I know you're drunk and you may not mean any of this, and maybe you'll forget about this, but what I'm about to say I mean. You're not disappointing anyone. I saved you because you were alive and had a will to live, at least deep down. I'm so thankful I found you and you've joined Pops crew. So don't say that ever again," he told me looking into my eyes. I nodded and looked down. We had made it to my cabin. Ace opened the door and helped me get inside and on my bed. "Hey fire face?" I asked before he could leave. 

"Yeah?"

"Can you stay here with me?" I quietly asked. 

"I don't think that would be very appropriate (Y/N), you're not thinking straight. I'm not going to take advantage of you in any way," he declined. I frowned. 

"Can you at least stay until I fall asleep?" I begged. He sighed. 

"Fine." He came and pulled a chair next to my bed and sat down. I smiled. 

"Can you tell me a story?" I asked.

"A story?" He asked. 

"Yeah. I didn't get any when I was a kid and they're supposed to help people sleep right? So can you tell me one?" 

"Uh, okay," he replied. Ace began telling me a story, and a few moments later I was out. I hadn't noticed the slight blush that had been on Ace's face throughout the night as he watched me, or the tender smile across his face as he left my cabin that night. When I woke up the next morning, I remembered almost nothing of what had happened. I remember playing a few drinking games with Ace, but that's all. It was at breakfast that I had learned what all had happened. I made a fool of myself, and Ace carried me to bed last night. I blushed a bit when Marco told me. I have no idea what I said to him. I still don't entirely know how I feel about him. Sure, I like him a lot and consider him a close friend, but I don't know if there's deeper feelings. I love being around him and he makes me feel safe, something I've never had with another person. I began to worry about what had happened when we were alone, so I decided it would be best to ask him. After I finished breakfast, I made my way to his cabin and knocked. He yelled for me to come in and I did. 

"(Y/N)! I didn't expect to see you up so early!" He said as I walked in. It looked like he was working on paperwork. 

"Yeah. Hangover isn't too bad, but I wanted to ask you something," I trailed off. 

"What is it?"

"What happened last night after we left the kitchen?" He smiled at me. 

"Nothing. I carried you to your cabin and you asked me some of the most random questions. Then I think I upset you with an answer and you cried a bit. I apologised when we got to your cabin," he paused and turned away from me before continuing. "Then you asked me to stay with you, which I tried to decline out of respect, but you wouldn't budge. So I sat next to you until you fell asleep before I left and went to my cabin." I felt relieved. I hadn't said anything personal then, unless he was lying. Though it is embarrassing I asked my commander to stay and sleep with me. 

"Ok. Sorry. It's not that I don't trust you or anything, because I do surprisingly trust you. I just wanted to fill in the blanks and stuff," I rambled. He smiled and I felt my stomach flip. 

"Of course. I understand. You have nothing to worry about. I'm honestly a bit disappointed you didn't embarrass yourself more." I smiled. 

"Sorry to disappoint. Maybe next time." He raised his eyebrows. 

"Next time? I thought you didn't enjoy drinking. Something change your mind?" 

"Oh it'll be a while. I still don't like waking up and not remembering what happened. Next time it'll be you embarrassing yourself," I informed him. He laughed. 

"Alright we will see about that. You get pretty competitive the more you drink." I shrugged. 

"Guess so. I'll let you get back to work, thank you for telling me what happened and taking care of me last night. I appreciate it," I told him. 

"Pleasure is all mine," he replied. I smiled and left his cabin, before going on with my day. At lunch that day Pops had announced where we are docking our ship next and why. The ‘why’ was because he thought we deserved a break. Why he thought the break should be on a winter island, I have no idea. It’s not even a close winter island, it’s going to take at least another week to get there. I guess there’s something he’s doing that’s top secret, there’s no way he’d choose a winter island to have a break on. I decided not to question it any further, he’s my captain and I should trust him. I decided that I’d spend the week training and getting even stronger. 


	6. Trouble on a Winter Island

When I woke up, half the ship was empty. I looked out the small window in my cabin and saw that we had docked on the winter island. Explains why I’m absolutely freezing. I should have thought about getting some winter gear, so I know what I’m doing when I get onto the island. I took a quick shower, and put on the warmest clothes I had, which was just a longer top and some pants. I opened my door to leave to eat breakfast, but I opened my door to Ace standing there, about to knock. I jumped a bit, not expecting someone to be standing outside of my door. “Uh good morning Ace,” I said. 

“Morning! Glad to see you up, I’ve got some bad news for you,” he told me. I began to worry a bit.  _ What bad news? Did something happen? Are they kicking me off the ship? They could have at least chosen a better island to drop me off at… _

“Okay, what is it?” I asked. 

“Can I come in? I can’t let others hear,” he asked back. I nodded and let him in, shutting the door behind us.  _ This better not be a joke. _ “So, as you probably guessed, we’re not entirely here to give the crew a break.” I sighed in relief. 

“Oh thank God. I thought the bad news was you all getting rid of me, not that!” He furrowed his brows. 

“Why would we kick you off the ship?” he asked. I shrugged. 

“I don’t know,” I mumbled. 

“Anyways, Pops actually has a meeting with some important guy and wants some of us to go with him. The commanders are all going, and I want you to come to. We’re not attending the actual meeting, but we’re going to be there making sure nothing funny happens.”  _ Do what now? _

“You want me,” I paused and pointed to myself, “to go along with all of the commanders and Pops to some big meeting and help with security?” I asked in disbelief. 

“Well, yeah. You don’t have to of course, I just thought it would be good training and a way to test you,” he answered. I thought about it.  _ What else was I going to do all day? _

“But I’m not even that strong,” I said. 

“You’re stronger than half the crew already, and you’re getting stronger everyday. I think you’re perfectly qualified. Plus you’re fun to be around,” he mumbled that last part. 

“I mean okay, I can go, yeah. I wasn’t really planning on doing anything anyway. When do we head out?” 

“After breakfast,” he replied with a big smile. My stomach turned again.  _ What was that? Why do I feel like this? Stop it me.  _

“Okay, I was headed there now. Have you eaten yet?” I asked, ignoring my body. 

“I haven’t, lets go!” The two of us headed to the kitchen and ate. Most of the commanders joined us, which was super weird for me. They were all my superiors, so I was a bit nervous about today. _ Would I be able to help at all if something happens? Who is Pops meeting that he feels like he needs all of his top men? _ After breakfast we all separated to grab what we needed. That’s when it dawned on me that I was going to absolutely freeze. Going with the commanders meant there would be no time for me to stop and buy a coat. I sighed. I’ve been through worse, it’s just a little cold. I grabbed what I thought I’d needed. Essentials, like my knives and other fighting gear. I hadn’t used my knives in a while because I had been focusing on close combat and my devil fruit power, but it was nice to have them back with me. I left my room and headed to the deck where we were meeting. I felt extremely out of place while we waited. It was literally just the commanders and myself, Ace hadn’t even shown up yet. The only other one I had ever really spoken to was Marco, so naturally I headed over to wait with him until Ace showed up. 

“Hey (Y/N)! Are you coming too?” Marco asked when he saw me. I nodded. 

“Yeah Ace asked me to come, though I don’t understand why. If anything happens I’ll probably only get in the way,” I answered, laughing a bit because of the nerves I felt. 

“Haha, no you won’t. I’ve seen you training. The fact that you’ve landed hits on Ace tells me that you’re strong.” 

“Pretty sure that was just luck, but thanks.” He looked at what I was wearing and frowned a bit. 

“Is that all you have? Aren’t you cold?” he asked, concerned. 

“This is the warmest I’ve got. I was planning on getting a coat today, but that doesn’t seem to be happening now. I’ll be fine though,” I replied with a smile, even though on the inside I wanted to curl up in a ball for warmth. 

“Of course she’ll be fine, she’s got this,” a voice said from behind me. I jumped as I felt a coat being put onto my shoulders. I looked back and saw Ace smiling at me. “I got it a while back. It’ll be big, but you can use it. I’ll be fine without it.” 

“Are you sure? I’ll be fine Ace, really,” I argued. He was still wearing his typical outfit, but he at least had put a short sleeve shirt on, not exactly much warmer than his normal outfit. 

“I’m positive! I can use my devil fruit power to keep warm, you have nothing. So you’re using this coat. I don’t want you getting cold, or getting frostbite or something,” he declared. 

“O-okay. Thanks Ace,” I mumbled, putting the coat further onto me. He was right. He’s quite a bit taller than I am, so what was probably a regular sized coat on him, was close to drowning me. It covered half of my thighs, but it was warm. It didn’t make sense to me why the coat smelled like him, I doubt he’s worn it that much, but it did, and it was kinda comforting. Eventually Pops came and we headed out. I was assigned to the back, with Ace and Marco. Some commanders walked ahead of us, then Pops, and more commanders. I was thankful for that, because they are the two commanders that I feel comfortable around. We had walked far into town, making small talk. Well, the commanders were. I was terrified and intimidated, I did not want to sound stupid in front of all of them, so I kept my mouth shut. When their conversation died down a bit, Ace turned to look at me. “Are you okay?” he whispered. 

“Yeah?” I answered. Apparently I looked as tense as I felt. 

“Are you sure because you’ve barely said a word,” he commented. 

“I’m fine. Believe it or not I don’t talk much around people I don’t know well.” He furrowed his brow and thought for a moment. 

“Yeah okay I could see that. You didn’t talk to me a whole lot for a while I guess.” I laughed. “What?” he asked. 

“Nothing. I can tell you don’t believe me. I can’t explain it. If I don’t trust a person much, I tend to be quieter around them. You were just annoying at first so I talked to you,” I half lied. I really don’t know why I had felt comfortable around Ace. It made no sense to me. I had never met him, yet I felt comfortable and began to trust him quickly. He wasn’t that annoying but I had to say something. 

“Well, I guess I believe you. I really only ever see you talk to Marco, Paula, and Kai if you’re not talking to me. But you don’t have to be so tense around these guys. They don’t bite,” he reminded me, smiling and leaning over to ruffle my hair again. I smiled and nodded. 

“I know I just don’t want to sound stupid, or mess up and have them all hate me,” I told him honestly. He chuckled. 

“You’re basically family now. You’ve been here for almost a month and a half, they aren’t going to think that.” I paused for a moment.  _ That doesn’t add up… _

“Wait a month and a half? I thought I’ve only been here for like almost a month?” I asked. 

“Well yeah, you’ve been up for that long. You were out for a couple of weeks when I brought you back originally. Did you not know?” 

“I mean, I assumed I had been out for a few days, so I never asked. I didn’t know I was out for a few weeks,” I trailed off. 

“Yeah, Marco was really worried and convinced you weren’t going to make it. He didn’t believe it when I told him you were up.” Marco turned to look at Ace. 

“Don’t lie to her, it was you that was so concerned about her. I was definitely surprised when you told me she was up, but it was you that was so excited. I thought you were going to rip my arm off dragging me to see her,” Marco argued. I smiled and laughed. 

“I wasn’t that excited!” he argued back. 

“Aww someone was excited to see me up~” I teased. 

“W-was not!” he pouted. So I decided to mess with him more because it’s fun. 

“Aw not even a little bit? You can’t lie to me Ace, I know you were excited.”

“Well I wasn’t disappointed or anything! Of course I was excited to see you up. I didn’t want some random person dying on my watch,” he argued. 

“Some random person, or some random girl you thought was attractive?” Marco asked. Ace whipped his head to turn to Marco. 

“That’s none of your business. You’re a doctor, you would have saved her too!” he quickly argued.

“Yes, I would have. Emphasis on the ‘I’. You,” he pointed his finger at Ace. “Normally wouldn’t care and would just leave without checking for survivors.” 

“Well that time I just felt like it, is that so wrong? I happened to find (Y/N) still alive and took her!” 

“So it had nothing to do with how pretty she looks?” Marco tried. 

“Well not nothing. Of course (Y/N) is pretty! I just happened to find her and wasn’t going to leave her! I still would have taken her even if she wasn’t as pretty as she is,” he argued. Marco looked past Ace and winked at me. My face flushed slightly as I realized what Ace had said.  _ He thinks I’m pretty? _ Ace must have realized it too, because he looked down and Marco bursted into laughter. I couldn’t come up with any witty remark at that point. I was just as flustered as Ace probably was. 

“Hahaha, I totally got you two! Two birds one stone! Or should I say two love birds with one stone!” Marco laughed. 

“Shut up Marco,” Ace threatened. Marco’s laughter eventually died down, and the three of us walked in an awkward silence. Unsure of what to even say after all of that. Ace had basically just admitted that I was attractive. My mind was thinking a million miles per second. _ Just because he thinks I’m attractive doesn’t mean anything. I’m not that pretty though, he’s got bad taste. _ We walked for a few miles in silence. Complete silence, most of the commanders' conversations had also stopped. Suddenly, Pops stopped walking. “Someone’s coming,” he announced. Immediately, we all took out our weapons and looked around. No one was in sight. I heard a foot step into the snow a few meters away and turned to look. “There,” I whispered to Ace. 

“Are you sure?” he whispered back. I nodded. My hearing was something I could rely on. Someone was a few meters away. I could gather a lot from a single footprint. Then I heard more, and more. They were doing a good job of keeping their group quiet, but not good enough to get past my hearing. “There’s about fifteen of them. All probably large men. They’re trying to surround us, and are getting closer and more spread out,” I told Ace. He looked at me surprised. 

“You can hear that?” he questioned. I nodded. “And you’re absolutely sure?” 

“Do you not trust me?” I asked. He shook his head. He passed word on to Marco, who passed it on. When everyone knew, we broke formation and surrounded Pops, preparing for a battle. Not even a minute later, the men appeared. I was right. Fifteen built men surrounded us, and attacked. Attacks began and I found myself fighting one of the guys. 

“What’s a small girl like you going to do?” he asked. 

“Kick your ass,” I answered. 

“Didn’t know Whitebeard had any daughters.” 

“He does now.” I used my power to shoot water at the guy. He dodged most, but one hit his arm and went through it as if it were a normal bullet. His eyes widened. I smiled, and ran forward. I grabbed two of my knives and attacked. I swung my knives and he dodged, before throwing a punch at me. I quickly changed my stomach into water and his fist fell through me. I re-materialized and kicked his back, making him fall to the ground. I turned him around and punched him in the face, with as much force as I could. Thankfully, it knocked him out. “(Y/N)!” someone screamed before I saw another fury of flames coming in my direction. I quickly morphed into water, dodging Ace’s flames, allowing him to hit the guy that was sneaking up on me. “Thanks,” I replied. A man, who appeared to be the men’s leader appeared in front of us. Ace quickly responded, attacking the man. The man then appeared behind me. I heard his boots on the snow and turned. I surrounded myself with water, and it quickly froze due to the temperature. The man punched the ice and it cracked. Ace shot a gust of fire at the man, hitting him before he teleported away. The flames quickly melted the ice that was protecting me, reminding me that I was no match for Ace. Ace quickly ran to my side. “Are you okay?” he asked. I nodded. The man appeared again, and I felt Ace’s back against mine. “He’s definitely using devil fruit powers. I got your back,” he told me. 

“I’ve got yours,” I replied. I felt Ace leave as he went to attack the man. I stayed facing forward, waiting for the man to appear in front of me. A minute later he did. I quickly made water appear under him, twisting and raising the water in an attempt to catch him. The water froze quickly and the man was unable to move. “Ace! Got him!” I yelled out. Ace turned and looked at the guy. “What do you all want? What are you after?” he yelled. The man smiled. 

“This was not part of our deal,” the man snickered. 

“What are you talking about?” 

“This was supposed to be an easy mission. Grab them and then get out. No one told us Whitebeard and his crew would be here,” the man spit. 

“Who are you after if it’s not Whitebeard?” Ace asked, growing more angry. 

“Who would be stupid enough to go after Whitebeard? Do you think I’m stupid? I’m not telling you anything.” Ace jumped onto the ice to threaten the man. I turned to see where everyone else was, and my stomach dropped. There was no one else. Everyone was separated. Of course we were separated, they’d have a better chance at accomplishing whatever mission it was if we were separated. “Ace!” I called out. He jumped down and looked at me. “We’re separated,” I stated. He looked around. 

“Shit,” he muttered. “How far away are we?” 

“Honestly, I have no idea. I didn’t think we moved far, I can hear a few fights. I’m guessing Marco is near, it sounds like his feet,” I replied. He nodded. 

“This guy isn’t saying a thing, but I don’t think he’s here for Whitebeard.” 

“Then what are they trying to do?” 

“I have no idea.” I looked past Ace when I heard the ice cracking. The man jumped down and headed straight for us. I quickly shot water bullets past Ace’s head and at the man, before he teleported. “Ice didn’t hold up,” I informed him. 

“Glad I didn’t move,” he breathed. 

“I wouldn’t have hit you,” I told him. Ace turned and the man reappeared in front of him. He quickly began to fight the man. His fists were covered in flames, and I understood where he got his nickname. I watched as they fought. Ace jumped into the air, dodging an attack and getting ready to launch his own, before the man teleported again. He suddenly appeared in front of my face and my eyes grew. I was able to react quick enough to morph into water where he attacked, before swinging at the man. “Tobi misses you (Y/N),” the man smiled and informed me quietly so that only the two of us would hear. I tensed up at the name I hadn’t heard in years. I let the shock get to me and the man punched me in the stomach. I doubled over and fell to my knees. I coughed and blood splattered onto the snow surrounding me. I quickly grabbed more knives, holding some between each knuckle. I jumped at the man and swung. “Don’t even say that name around me,” I threatened. “Why is he after me?” The man smiled, dodging my swings. 

“I told you. He misses his perfect girl oh so much, so he hired us to come get you. He’ll be so surprised to learn that you escaped our last attack and joined Whitebeard's crew. Tobi is going to be so disappointed.” I began to get angry. 

“He can go to hell,” I told him, swinging again. The man teleported away, barely missing my last swing. I had gotten his face a bit, drops of his blood were left behind in the snow. I quickly turned to see him fighting with Ace. They fought for a while while I caught my breath. Then, I watched as Ace’s eyes grew wide.  _ Shit. What did he just tell Ace? _ The man appeared in front of me again, and I once again surrounded myself in water that quickly froze. “Damn. You just had to be with this guy. Are you two a thing?” he asked, then paused and shattered the ice around me in one blow. He grabbed onto my throat, constricting my air. “Tobi is going to be so mad you left him for fire fist,” he smirked. 

“Go. To. Hell,” I spat. Flames suddenly surrounded me and I fell to the ground. Even though I was surrounded, they didn’t burn at all. The man yelled in pain and teleported away. Ace turned to look at me. I had never seen him look worried, and it concerned me.  _ This is all my fault again. They’re here for me. _ He opened his mouth to speak, but quickly stopped himself and looked past me in fear. He ran forward and pushed me to the side, I lost my footing and fell hard. I rolled in the snow down a hill. I stopped when I hit a rock that was protruding out of the snow and yelled in pain. I looked around to find where I was. I eventually saw flames, surrounding an area further away. I tried to get up to see more, but blackness surrounded me and I lost consciousness. 


	7. Panic

I woke up freezing and confused. When I opened my eyes, I could only see white. It was a blizzard. A gust of wind hit and I shivered, before I remembered what had happened. I got up as quickly as I could. My back hurt from hitting the rock, but it was bearable. I walked to where I remember seeing the flames last. I needed to find Ace. It took me a while to get up the hill, slipping in the snow on the way up. The snow was coming down hard and the wind didn’t help. I was trudging through a few feet of snow, it went up to my knees now. I wondered how long I had been out and if I was too late. I finally made it up the hill Ace pushed me off of. “Ace?!” I called out. There was no reply and I started to worry. I looked around, until I saw a lump in the snow. I ran over to see who it was. It was the man who was after me. He was completely knocked out, maybe even dead, I didn’t want to know nor did I care. I walked in circles for what felt like forever, calling out Ace’s name. My heart pounded and my head spun from worry and stress. I was about to give up, when I tripped or something, or someone. I quickly brushed the snow off of them, and found Ace’s face. “Ace?!” I yelled at him. He didn’t respond and I quickly checked his pulse. He was still alive. I dug him out of the snow that had piled up on him. I knew he had been out too long. His skin was a bright pink almost turning purple, freezing from the snow that had begun to fall. I quickly took off the coat he gave me and put it on him, he needed it more. I looked over him, he looked mostly unharmed, just minor bruises and scratches, before I looked down at his leg. I should have noticed the blood in the snow surrounding him earlier. His leg was bent in an unnatural way.  _ Shit. I have to get him out of the snow. _ I lifted him up and wrapped his arms around my neck so I could carry him on my back. I was careful to not make his leg worse, though I didn’t have much of an idea of how to help him. His size made it difficult. He was built and also a lot taller than me. I was suddenly thankful for all the strength training I had had. I started walking in a direction, hoping I would find somewhere to go, or someone to help. _ What happened to everyone? Are they okay? They’re my crew, not only my crew, but they’re my strongest mates, I’m sure they’re fine. _ I eventually found a cave. I got to it as fast as I could and got inside. I hadn’t seen anyone or anything on the way here, I had no idea where we were or how far away we were from anything. I gently sat Ace down. I had very little medical knowledge. I took off the bag I had brought and used it to rest Ace’s head on. I then used my power and cleaned his leg off.  _ Water will have to do for now _ . When it was cleaned off, I ripped part of my shirt and tied it around his leg. I didn’t want to leave him, but I also knew I needed to make a fire and get something to make sure he doesn’t move his leg. I went back out into the blizzard and searched. I eventually came back with a pile of sticks and other things I could use to make a fire. I grabbed two of the sticks and made a quick splint for Ace’s leg. I ripped off another part of my shirt and used the two to wrap his leg.  _ This will have to do for now, until I can find someone to help. _ I then quickly got to work on making a fire. I wasn’t great at it, but I eventually succeeded in making one. I moved Ace closer to the fire, and sat down next to him. I checked his breathing again.  _ He’s still fine _ . I looked to see if I had anything else I could do for Ace, but there was nothing. I sighed and got closer to the fire. Half of my shirt was now being used on Ace’s leg, and it was already short sleeved. I hugged my knees closer to me.  _ How did I get into this mess? I’m such an idiot. It’s my fault we were attacked and Ace’s leg is broken. _ I began to softly cry. _ I always mess things up _ . I eventually calmed down, and checked Ace again. I re-tied the make-do split, making sure it was staying tight enough. I looked outside of the cave, the sun was starting to go down and it was still storming. I put some more sticks into the fire and my stomach growled. I decided to try to find something to eat before the sun went down and we were left in the dark. “I’ll be back Ace,” I whispered as I left. 

I walked around looking for any signs of life. I eventually came across some rabbit footprints and I quietly followed them. I had found a hole where some lived, and decided to wait until one came out before grabbing it. I hated having to hunt and kill for my own food, but I also wanted to survive. I knew I only had so long until I needed to get back, I didn’t want the fire to go out. My luck grew and a rabbit came out. I quickly moved and caught it. I brought it back to the cave and walked in. I once again checked on Ace, afraid that something had happened when I was gone, but he was the same as before. I put more wood into the fire and began to prep the rabbit. After it was ready to go, I ate, making sure to leave some in case Ace woke up. I felt Ace’s hand to see if he had warmed up at all. I didn’t want to leave him too close to the fire, afraid he’d warm up to fast and get frostbite. It was slightly warmer, so I decided to scoot him closer. I sat down next to him again, poking the fire with a stick, my head resting on my knees. I looked over at Ace, and called his name. “Ace?” There was no response at all. I sighed. “I’m sorry,” I continued, knowing he couldn’t hear me. “This is entirely my fault again isn’t it?” I supposed that I may as well talk everything out. He wasn’t awake anyway, and I needed to get it all out. I began to speak again. “It doesn’t make sense you know? Why I feel safe around you. I can’t explain it. I feel differently about you, but I don’t know how to explain it. I’m not even sure I know what it is I feel. Normally, with my past, I am unable to trust men and it takes me forever to do so. Most of my last crew members were women because of it. Is it because you’re attractive?” I laughed to myself. “I don’t think that’s entirely it. I haven’t trusted anyone, attractive or not, but none of them have been as good looking as you. I mean it’s really not fair at all. You’re stupid perfectly wavy black hair. My hair is also wavy/curly, but it never looks as good as yours! You’re pretty freckles that complement your eyes. Not to mention your smile. Sometimes I think I might die when you smile at me. You’re quite tall though, and I don’t know if I like that,” I smiled before continuing. “Don’t even get me started on your abs, those are truly unfair. I work out just as much, maybe even more. I watch what I eat and everything and barely have any! Then there’s you, who eats whatever you want and how ever much you want and is fine. Not fair if you ask me. It blows my mind how perfect you look, but even with all of that, I don’t think it’s why I’m comfortable around you. I didn’t look twice at you when I met you. Maybe I think these things now because I know you. You’re kinder than any other pirate or guy I’ve met. You always make sure I’m okay, even though half of the time I get hurt it’s because of you. You make me smile and laugh, something I hadn’t done so much when I was captain. I mean I even had the nickname cold water because of how emotionless I seemed to my crew. I don’t know how you changed that part of me. But when I’m around you, I’m not afraid of most of my emotions. You care so deeply about your crew. You’re smart and an incredible fighter. Even though I say you’re reckless, I love it. I love that you can be reckless and have fun. I wish I could be even more reckless. Maybe I’m just comfortable around you because you’re you. I don’t know what it is about you, but you make me feel safe. Somehow, you’ve come into my life and made me care about you. You’re so mean, making me feel things I’ve never felt before. I never thought I’d feel this way with my past,” I laughed again, and frowned. “So you can’t leave me here Ace. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself if I killed the person I care about so much. Please.” I buried my face into my knees, unsure of why I even said any of that. _ At least he won’t know _ . A few tears fell down onto my knees. I was caught up in my mind, that I hadn’t noticed the hand holding mine until it slightly squeezed.  _ When did that get here?  _ My head shot up and I looked at my hand, I stared at my hand in his hand. I’m not sure who else could have been holding my hand, but I still followed the hand, to their arm. Finally I looked at Ace and he smiled at me. 

“I don’t plan on leaving you anytime either (Y/N). I care about you too much,” Ace croaked out. My eyes grew wide. 

“A-Ace! You’re up?! How much of that did you hear?” I asked, panicked. 

“Enough,” he answered. My face heated up and I turned away, completely embarrassed. He squeezed my hand again and I looked at him. “I won’t go anywhere,” he assured me. I nodded. 

“What happened?” I asked. 

“That guy teleported behind you and was about to take you. So I pushed you, sorry about that by the way, once you were away we fought. I took him out eventually, but at some point he teleported and when I went to dodge I fell against a tree. I don’t know how it got my leg, but I got up and took care of him,” he explained. I nodded. 

“When I woke up, there was a blizzard. I somehow found you and brought you here, I have no idea where everyone else is. I did my best to take care of your leg, but it’s not good.” He nodded and we sat in silence, watching the fire. I was still flustered from realizing Ace had heard my feelings, and was at a loss for what to say. “Hey (Y/N)?” he softly asked. 

“Yeah?” 

“What happened in your past?” he hesitantly asked. I sighed. 

“The guy said something to you didn’t he?” I asked. He nodded.

“He said he was here for you. Why would anyone be after you?” I let go of his hand and looked away. I took a deep breath.  _ I can trust him. _ I turned my back to him and took off my shirt. “Woah (Y/N) what are yo-” Ace stuttered. He stopped talking when it was off and he saw my mark. I gulped. 

“This is my past,” I paused and put my shirt back on then faced him. “I was sold when I was a kid. I was a stupid kid and would always go explore on my own. I was in a forest near where I lived when I was surrounded and ambushed. I was sold to a Celestial Dragon later that day. I grew up a slave, being used and abused in every way you can think of,” I paused and my voice wavered. Ace reached out and held my hand again. “I really do mean every way you can think of. I was put through everything. My owner was a man, and it’s what has made my discomfort for pretty much everything that happens. His name is Tobi. Because of him, I struggle to trust any guy, any sort of physical affection feels wrong. I had snuck out one day when I was a kid, which was obviously very against the rules. It was that day that I found the water-water fruit. When Tobi found out I had gone he sent his men after me. When they found me I was beaten before I had to face Tobi. Even as a kid I knew how screwed I was about to be. He found out what I had done and,” I paused, not wanting to say what really happened. Ace is smart, he will figure it out, “punished me,” I finally finished. I felt him squeeze my hand and I held back tears. “A few years later, I was able to escape. I don’t know who it was that helped me, but I owe them my life. A man ran into me when I was running errands for Tobi. He’s the one that later helped me escape. I thought Tobi was killed honestly. I set the mansion on fire and ran to the nearest port. The man had gotten me a ship and I got away. I thought Tobi died in the fire, but I guess I was wrong. I eventually became a pirate, more free than I ever had been. Until the day you saved me. I had suspected the pirates that ambushed us were sent by Tobi, but that man just confirmed it. And now he’s attacked Pops and the crew because of me. If I hadn’t left none of this would have happened. If I hadn’t been such a stupid girl and listened to my parents, I wouldn’t have lost everything,” my voice cracked and I was no longer able to hold back my tears. I rested my head on my knees, still holding Ace’s hand. Ace sat up and wrapped his arms around me. For a while, I just sat there curled up and crying with Ace’s arm wrapped around me. Eventually, I looked up at Ace. My heart broke when I saw he had been crying with me. He softly smiled at me. A few tears left my eyes and fell. Ace gently brought his hand up and held my face, wiping away the tears. “I’m sorry that happened to you, but you don’t have to be alone now. I’m here for you, and I always will be,” he said looking into my eyes. I started crying again, and being careful of his leg, I wrapped my arms around him and buried my face into his shoulder. He quickly moved his arms, one on my head and the other rubbing my back. “I’m here,” he whispered. After a lot of time had passed, I had finally calmed down and I moved away from Ace, wiping my eyes. I sniffed. “Sorry about that,” I mumbled. 

“Don’t apologize, it’s fine. I’m glad you feel comfortable enough around me” he told me. I nodded. He smiled. “Maybe it’s the perfect body, that seems reasonable to me,” he teased. I blushed. 

“Shut up,” I muttered. “You weren’t supposed to hear any of that.” Ace laid back down, wincing a bit from the pain. “Do I need to rewrap your leg?” I asked him. He shook his head. 

“I don’t think so, just hurts a bit,” he answered. 

“A bit? I think it would hurt more than just a bit. I’m going to get nightmares from the way it was bent when I found you,” I told him, shivering a bit. Ace smiled. 

“Sorry, I’ve been through worse though. Marco is gonna be pissed when he finds out, well maybe not if I tell him that I was saving you,” Ace told me. 

“He’s gonna be pissed at the terrible job I’ve done of wrapping it. I have no idea what I’m doing. Are you sure it’s okay?” 

“I think so. We’ll worry about it tomorrow. I wanna sleep,” Ace yawned. 

“Just don’t die in your sleep please,” I said, half serious. 

“Wouldn’t dream of it, but I don’t know how well I’ll sleep,” he admitted. I furrowed my brows. 

“And here I was thinking you were a freak and a broken leg couldn’t possibly interrupt your sleep,” I admitted. Ace looked over at me. 

“Oh, it’s not the leg that will keep me from sleeping,” Ace began with a smirk. 

“What are you even talking about Ace?” I asked. He flashed me a devious smile and sat up a bit. He quickly used his hand and snuffed out the small fire that I had made. 

“Hey what the hell was that for? How am I supposed to not freeze? Not everyone has a devil fruit to keep them warm!” I asked slightly annoyed. He laid back down and shrugged. 

“It’s the only way I can sleep. I can’t sleep without you next to me after that,” he answered. I blushed again and looked at him. 

“Wh-what?” I asked. He laughed. 

“Come here, I’ll keep you warm. The fire will tell people where we are anyways, we don’t want to be ambushed.” 

“You’re just making that up, no one can see through this storm,” I accused. 

“Yeah and what about it? What if I just want you to sleep with me?” I looked at him. “That sounded wrong, not like that, not that I’d mind though. I mean, I- I want you to sleep next to me,” he corrected himself, blushing. “Just hurry up and come here so I can sleep,” he commanded, patting the ground next to him. I blushed and laid down next to him, facing away from him. He quickly scooted closer, until his chest hit my back, and wrapped his arms around me, nuzzling his face into the back of my neck. I tensed up a bit, feeling uncomfortable at the unfamiliar touch. I listened to his breathing deepen, proving that he could easily sleep anywhere despite the leg he had broken. I felt his hot breath on my neck, and his chest falling and rising behind me. I started to relax, feeling his warmth, and welcoming the new touch. I laid for a bit, becoming more and more relaxed and comfortable. I took a deep breath and closed my eyes. “Thank you Ace,” I muttered and paused, wondering if I dare say the words I wanted to. I had finally discovered what it was I felt for him, how I felt towards him. There were no other words for it. I thought it should have felt wrong to say it, but I wanted to. I needed to. I hadn’t said those stupid three words to anyone, they felt to strong to ever use, but it was how I felt for Ace. Maybe he feels differently, I don’t care. “I love you Ace,” I finally whispered. I felt him smile as he pressed a kiss against my neck. I shuddered.  _ Shit. I really thought he was asleep, but I don’t regret saying it _ . “I love you too (Y/N),” he whispered back, his breath tickling my neck. I smiled, and soon after I fell asleep in Ace’s arms. 


	8. Back with the crew

I woke up with the sun shining into the cave from the outside. As my eyes opened, I remembered where I was and what happened. As if on cue, Ace stirred in his sleep, moving slightly away from me. I lifted my head to look outside and frowned. The snow was still coming down hard, and it was pilling up. There was no way I could get Ace out of here alone now, which means our only hope is for someone to come find us. I decided I was going to take a look around and see if I could find anything, any clues of anyone out there. I wiggled away from Ace and out of his arms, and accidentally woke him up. “(Y/N)?” he asked, still half asleep. 

“I’m going to go look outside and see if I can find any signs of anyone. It doesn’t look like the snow has let up and there’s no way you can walk out of here, and I can’t carry you out. Go back to sleep,” I told him. He grabbed the coat that we had used as a blanket and threw it at me. 

“Take it, you need it. I’ll be fine,” he mumbled, before turning over and falling back asleep. I picked up the coat and put it on, thankful for it’s warmth. I walked across the small cave and out into the blizzard. I walked around hoping there would be some sign of life. I walked in a circle around the cave, trying to make sure I wouldn’t lose which direction the cave was in.  _ The last thing I’d want to happen is get lost and leave Ace in the condition he’s in _ . I thought I saw some footprints and I made my way over to them. I looked at them. They were really faint, meaning whoever’s prints they were, they had left some time ago. I looked closer at the prints, trying to get information about it.  _ Looks like it’s definitely a male’s footprints, I don’t know what every crew member wears for shoes, so I can’t say for sure if it's them _ . I decided to try to follow the footprints, keeping my guard up because I was aware it could be one of the men after me. I followed for a while, before the tracks suddenly stopped. I stopped and frowned. I looked around me, and there seemed to be no sign of anything.  _ What happened? _ Then I realized the prints could have been covered by now. Whoever it was, was long gone. I gave up and made my back to the cave, or so I thought. I ended up walking far.  _ It is this way right? _ I felt like I was going in circles and I started to panic.  _ I’m lost. I should have known with my bad sense of direction that this would happen. I have to get back to Ace. Where the hell am I? Where the hell is the cave? _ I decided to keep walking and hope for the best. I lost track of the time, but it felt like it had been a while. I was walking as fast as I could through the snow. It was freezing out, and my clothes felt like they were doing nothing. The wind blew hard as snow was biting my face. I shoved my hands in my pockets, trying to warm them up, but it didn’t work. I was frantically walking around at this point, lost in the woods, in the middle of a blizzard. I kept going, praying I wasn’t walking further away from the cave. I smiled when I saw smoke in the distance.  _ That’s someone’s fire _ . I tried to run to where it was coming from, and stumbled into a town. It was a very small town, no one was around. I knocked on the nearest door and felt relieved when someone answered. “Hi! Sorry to be a bother, but my friend and I got stuck in this blizzard and he got in an accident and can’t move. We took shelter in a nearby cave, and I left some time ago to look for help, but I also kind of lost my way and don’t know where it is. Can you help?” I pleaded. I watched the woman stare at me. She called to her husband and explained the situation. 

“Well, there’s only a few caves in the area, I’m sure we can find it. He can’t move, you said?” he asked. I nodded. 

“Yeah his leg got pretty messed up,” I replied. I waited for the man to get ready, and he also grabbed his son to help. They led me to the closest cave, but it wasn’t the cave I left Ace in, so we headed for the next one. “So what brought you all to this island?” the man asked me. 

“We were with some friends and got separated, we were headed to a town to meet with someone,” I vaguely answered.  _ What do I do if they recognize Ace and won’t help? I can’t tell them we’re part of Whitebeard's crew. _

“I’ll take that lie,” he answered. My eyes grew a bit wider, but I stayed quiet. We walked for a few minutes before the son told me the next cave should be within hearing distance. “Ace?” I called out, forgetting that I probably shouldn’t use his real name. _ Lots of people are named Ace...right?  _ I didn’t hear anything and called out again. “(Y/N)!” I finally heard. I smiled and the three of us quickly walked to the cave. He had started a fire in the time that I left, and I grew worried. “I told you not to move, you could have hurt yourself,” I scolded. 

“I didn’t think you’d be gone for an hour, are you okay? Did something happen?” he asked. 

“Sorry, I’m bad with directions. I got lost, but I found a town and these two are here to help,” I said as the man and his son walked in. I saw the man’s eyes grow wide in recognition, but he didn’t say anything. “There’s a doctor in town that can help, let's get you going,” he instructed. The three of us were able to lift Ace and get him into town without further damaging his leg. We brought him to the small office and got a doctor. I thanked the two men and they left without a word. I had guessed they recognized Ace and didn’t want to stay any longer and cause conflict. I knew that as soon as we could, Ace and I would need to leave, but then again, I don’t think they’d want to mess with Whitebeard's crew. I was asked to wait outside while the doctors checked Ace. It felt like an eternity, and I was growing more anxious.  _ It can’t be that bad can it? _ When the doctor finally came out, I jumped up from my seat, ready to hear news. 

“He should be fine. His leg was broken pretty bad, but he should be able to leave tonight, or tomorrow morning when the storm ends, which should be soon. I’m assuming you all don’t want to stay long?” the doctor asked. I nodded. “You don’t need to worry, no one here would dare mess with Whitebeard’s crew. I had to knock him out in order to do a quick surgery, but when he wakes up he should be able to walk with some help. I’ll write up a file for you so you can bring it to your ship’s doctor.” 

“Thank you,” I responded, digging some Beri out of my bag and handing it to him as payment. He smiled and accepted it. I walked into the room they had Ace in and sat down in a chair. I looked over at him sleeping. I would have liked to describe Ace sleeping as beautiful, or peaceful, but this is Ace and that would be a total lie. He looked like a wreck, drool beginning to fall out and onto his chin. I smiled to myself a bit.  _ What are we now? Good friends? In a relationship? Who knows, I don’t know that I care. I just know that I love and care for Ace _ . I was patiently waiting for Ace to wake up, no one could ever predict how long he would be out when he sleeps. There was a knock at the door and I told them to come in. It was the boy from earlier with some food. I smiled and thanked him. “Can I ask you a question, miss?” he asked. 

“Of course,” I replied. 

“You’re a pirate right?” I nodded. “Why did you become a pirate?” he asked. I thought for a moment. 

“I became a pirate because I was tired of being locked up, both literally and figuratively. I set out to see so I could be free from everything. I wanted to find a crew I could bond with, and to do as I please,” I told him. The kid smiled. 

“I think I wanna be a pirate when I’m older,” he confessed. 

“Well, it’s a lot of fun.” 

“Can you tell me a story about something you’ve done?” he excitedly asked. I looked over at Ace and figured I’d have time, so I agreed. I told him about how I met my first crewmember. I was staying in a town, when I ran into a woman fighting some Navy soldiers. I stepped in and helped her and she later agreed to join my crew. So we found a ship and set sail. The kid smiled and asked questions the entire time. “Thank you so much (Y/N)! That was an incredible story! I need to get going though, dad will get mad. He thinks I shouldn’t become a pirate, but I’m going to be a nice pirate just like you!” he exclaimed before running off. I smiled to myself. 

“I want to be a pirate just like you too~,” I heard Ace speak after he left. 

“It’s not nice to eavesdrop,” I told him. 

“Is it eavesdropping when I’ve been in the room longer than the kid? Either way I didn’t want to interrupt the nice story. Plus I want to know more about you,” he smiled. 

“Whatever fire-face. The blizzard has let up and the doctor here cleared you to go. If you can move we should get going back to the ship.” He nodded and sat up. 

“Ahh nap time is over,” he announced. I went over to help Ace off of the bed he was on and we walked out of the room. He kept his arm around me, using me to help him walk. I did my best to help support his weight. We walked a few miles out of town, asking for directions along the way. I was starting to get tired from carrying half of Ace’s weight. We took a short break before continuing. An hour later, I saw the ship. I heard someone yelling on the ship that we were headed there. A few minutes later, Marco and Thatch came running towards us. 

“(Y/N), Ace! What happened?” Marco asked as he got closer, quick to get to Ace’s other side to help him walk. 

“We were about to start looking for you all,” Thatch informed. 

“First, did Pops get to his meeting okay?” Ace asked. 

“Yeah. After we took out the rest of the guys, we noticed you all were gone, but then it started to storm, so we kept going. We ended up staying at the meeting place and then left in the morning. When we got here we realized you two hadn’t returned and were about to head out,” Marco replied. 

“Good,” Ace replied, slightly out of breath. I took over explaining what happened, leaving out the details I wasn’t sure I wanted them to know yet. 

“Ace and I got separated from you all and ended up fighting the guy’s leader. He had a devil fruit power and could teleport or something. Ace ended up pushing me down a hill to avoid me getting hit, and I knocked out. Ace fought him and took him out, but broke his leg in the process. When I woke up, the blizzard had begun, but I found Ace and dug him out of the snow before heading to a cave and taking care of his leg the best I could. This morning I found a town and they helped us before we left.” Marco nodded. “Here, the doctor there told me to give this to you, it’s a description of Ace’s leg or something.” He took the paper and nodded. We got back on the ship and everyone greeted us. It was good to be back. Both of us starving, we quickly went to the kitchen and ate a ton of food, before Pops called us in. I knew there was no way to get out of it, I had to tell Pops what happened and why we were ambushed. It was going to be hard. The two of us headed for his room and I tensed up before we walked in. “You okay?” Ace asked. 

“Sure. I just know I’m going to have to tell him the truth,” I paused. “About everything. He needs to know that they were after me and why. It’s just not exactly easy to talk about you know?” 

“I’ll be there the whole time,” he assured me. I smiled and we walked in. 

“Ace, (Y/N), I’m glad to see you two are okay. What happened?” Pops asked. Ace took the liberty of filling him in on the battle, and what happened to him and how we got here, then it was my turn to tell him the information I knew. 

“We found out what they were after as well,” I began. 

“What?” Pops asked. 

“Me.” I looked up at him and he gave me a confused look. “When I was young I was captured and sold to a Celestial Dragon named Tobi. Later down the line a man helped me escape and I thought Tobi had died in the fire I used to escape. But he didn’t and he’s after me. He’s the one that hired the pirates that took out my last crew, and he’s the reason we were attacked. I’m sorry,” I finished. Pops reached out and put a hand on my shoulder, and smiled. 

“I know,” he said. I looked up at him, confused. 

“What?” 

“I was the man that helped you all those years ago. I’ve been keeping tabs on you ever since, but I had no idea Tobi survived that fire. We’ll have to do something about them,” he replied. My jaw dropped.  _ It was Whitebeard? Whitebeard helped me all those years ago? _

“You’re the one who helped me?” I asked. He smiled and nodded. “Thank you,” I bowed. “I never got a chance to properly thank you. I’m extremely grateful for you getting me out of there, and taking me in a month ago.” My voice cracked a bit. I was glad I didn’t need to say anything more, I had told him years ago what was happening. It’s hard to say and I didn’t want to say it. 

“I’m glad I was able to help you, go get some rest. You all need it,” he told us. We nodded and left. I let out a shaky breath when we exited. Ace ruffled my hair. “You got through it,” he said. I nodded. 

“I can’t believe it was him all those years ago, it explains a lot.” Ace nodded. 

“I’m glad you know now.” We stood there for a moment, once again unsure what to do. I wanted to talk about yesterday, but I also wanted to forget it ever happened. Ace spoke up, “Do you maybe wanna talk about yesterday tonight?” I nodded. 

“Yeah, I think we should,” I agreed. 

“Tonight at eleven work? My cabin?” I gave him a look. 

“That’s a bit late…” 

“I know. I don’t want anyone to overhear,” he replied. I was taking this the wrong way. Going to a guy’s cabin late at night, because he doesn’t want anyone to hear. Ace noticed from the look I was giving him. “My God (Y/N), not like that! Overhear our conversation! Not unless you want everyone to hear our private lives!” 

“You’re not making it sound any better fire-face,” I chuckled. He blushed. 

“You know what I mean! I’m not asking to sleep with you, I'm just asking to talk to you,” he stammered, before gaining more confidence. “I know you think my body is perfect but I don’t think you’re ready for that,” he teased. Now it was my turn for my face to heat up. 

“Shut up you dick. You told me you only heard a bit! You weren’t supposed to hear any of that!” I argued. 

“Well, I wasn’t going to stop you from describing my looks and how you feel~” 

“Whatever you were probably too embarrassed to stop me,” I challenged. 

“Was not.” I smirked at him. 

“Oh really? Then I’ll add some more things to the list since it doesn’t embarrass you. I think that your arms are ridiculously warm and shouldn’t be as comfortable as they are, oh and your ass is nice,” I confessed. His face exploded into a blush and he was speechless. “And to add a cherry on top, you look cute when you blush. It highlights your freckles more which makes your eyes sparkle, so therefore I’m going to mess with you any chance I get so I can see that cute blush,” I concluded. Ace just stood there and looked at me. I smiled, getting over my embarrassment quickly. Truth is the truth, he’d find out some day or another. “Told you that was why. I’ll see you tonight,” I winked and walked away, leaving Ace there a blushing mess.


	9. Doing Stupid Stuff

I hadn't seen Ace all day after this morning, and didn't think much of it. Most of the crew had headed in for the night. I checked the time and decided to start walking over to Ace's cabin. I started to grow a bit more anxious as I walked.  _ Was last night nothing? Am I even ready to take things further? Thinking about it makes me nervous, but I know that I like him a lot. He makes me feel comfortable. _ Before I knew it, I was in front of Ace's cabin. I knocked and he immediately called for me to come in. I opened the door and he sat up from his bed. He looked really tired and I grew concerned. "Are you okay Ace? You don't look so good," I asked, walking over to him. He yawned and nodded.

"Yeah, just tired," he answered. 

"Have you eaten today? I haven't seen you at all." He looked away from me, which made me even more nervous.  _ Ace always eats… _

"I was kinda nervous about right now," he muttered.  _ How could talking to me make him so nervous he didn't eat? _ I frowned. 

"Why are you so nervous? You need to eat, let me go get you something before we talk," I suggested. 

"I'm fine, really," he refused. He patted his bed next to him, silently asking me to sit. I moved and sat next to him. We sat for a moment in silence. Ace finally spoke. 

"So, there's some things I wanna tell you before we go any further," he said. I nodded. 

"Okay," I drug out. "Is everything okay?" He sighed. 

"Maybe. There's some things I wanna tell you about myself." I nodded again and put my hand on his. 

"Whatever it is you think is going to change my mind about you, it won't. You can tell me anything and my feelings won't change," I assured him. 

"I wouldn't be so sure," he muttered. "I'll start with the easy stuff." 

"Okay," I answered, bracing myself for the worst. I don't know what the worst was, but I was ready. 

"You know Monkey D. Luffy?" He asked. 

"Sure. Straw hat Luffy right? The rookie pirate who's been causing a lot of trouble with the navy? He seems naïve to me," I answered, confused as to what he had to do with anything. Ace smiled. 

"Yeah he is. He's my little brother," Ace told me. I smiled. 

"No way."

"He is. I lived with some mountain bandits my entire life, and Luffy came to live with us eventually. I thought he was so annoying at first. But I love him," he finished. I smiled.

"Well, you're almost just as reckless as him, I believe it." 

"The other thing is who my father really is, the main reason I wanted to talk to you. I don't want this to get out. I've never told anyone," He made a face and looked away. He paused for a while. When he looked up at me he looked so vulnerable. It looked like if I responded badly, he would shatter into a million pieces. "My father is Gol D. Roger," he said so softly I almost didn't hear it. He avoided eye contact, as if he was ready for me to tell him that his announcement would change everything. I blinked. _ So? _ I gently lifted his chin so he would look at me. I'd never seen him look the way he did. Hatred, fear, resentment. All of it showed. I looked at him and smiled. 

"Ace, it doesn't matter to me at all. So what? I like you for you, I don't care that your father happens to be Roger. Makes no difference to me at all. Did someone tell you otherwise? Because they obviously haven't met you because you're amazing." Tears started to well up in his eyes. 

"I've spent most of my life being told I'm the devil's son and thinking I shouldn't be alive," he confessed. My heart broke, and I wrapped my arms around him. 

"Devil's son or not I still love you. And you deserve to be here, alive and happy. I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you. I'm so glad that I met you, your father doesn't change that. What he did has nothing to do with you. Whatever those people said, they're wrong. The world needs you Ace. I need you," I whispered to him. He quickly buried his face into my shoulder, and I soon felt his tears fall onto it. _ Has he been thinking he doesn't deserve to live this whole time? _ We stayed like that for a while until he calmed down. He then flopped back onto his bed, pulling me with him. "Thank you," he said. 

"I'd tell you everyday you matter if I need to," I told him. He smiled at me. 

"I'm so glad I saved you almost two months ago."

"Me too," I replied. We spent the next few hours together, Ace telling me stories of his childhood. What he would hear from the town about him, when Luffy came and how annoying he was, his other brother Sabo and what happened to him, and eventually to him starting out on sea and how he got here. I listened the whole time, smiling and laughing, and also comforting him. It was nice to hear of someone's childhood that was slightly more normal than mine. I then talked about mine, the few parts before I was kidnapped and sold, and then after. I didn't want to talk about what happened when I was with Tobi, and I was thankful Ace didn't push me to. When I was in the middle of a story I looked and noticed that Ace had fallen asleep. I smiled and laughed a bit to myself. _ Always sleeping _ . He looked different when he slept, which confirmed to me that he didn't think he deserved to live. He looked so peaceful, relaxed, and happy when he was asleep. Not wanting to stay too long, or give anyone ideas in the morning, I decided it would be best to leave. I wasn't sure quite how fast I was willing to take the relationship, I still had a hard time trusting and accepting physical touch. I reached up and moved a piece of hair out of his eyes.  _ How can he think he shouldn't live? _ I carefully got off of him and onto the floor. I went to his desk and wrote a quick note, before leaving it on his desk. He'd hopefully see it. I went back to his bed and moved his blanket over top of him, before kissing his cheek and quietly making my way out of his cabin. I carefully shut the door, making sure it wouldn't make a sound. "(Y/N)?" Someone asked. I yelped in surprise and turned to see who it was. It was Marco. He smirked at me. "What were you doing in Ace's cabin so late?" He asked in a teasing voice. I blushed even though I knew nothing happened. 

"Nothing," I answered. He smiled.

"Uh-huh. Whatever. Glad you two finally slept together." My face exploded, as well as my anger.

"W-we did not! Why would you even think that?!" I said, probably too loud, making my voice raise a few octaves. He gave me a look. 

"You came out of Ace's room. Alone. At one in the morning. Your hair is messed up and you're literally redder than a tomato right now," he informed me. My jaw dropped. 

"Ok maybe it looks like it, but we didn't do anything!" I argued. 

"(Y/N) I honestly don't care that you slept with Ace. We all knew it would happen eventually. I'm happy for you two for finally doing it. How was it? Is he any good?" He smirked. 

"Marco! We didn't sleep together! Even if we did I wouldn't tell you anything, but there's nothing to tell because we didn't sleep together!" I angrily told him. 

"Mmhm. Then what were you doing in there so late?"

"We were talking," I answered. 

"Yeah sure. And why would you talk to him so late, couldn't it have waited?"

"It was private and we didn't want people to hear and listen." 

"Listen to your screams maybe," he teased. 

"Ugh Marco!! It's not like that," I whined. "Honestly, we just had some things we needed to talk about about our lives. I didn't want other people hearing what happened to me." 

"Well, it'll happen soon enough," he smiled. 

"Whatever," I mumbled. "Have a good night." I walked past Marco and to my cabin.  _ That was embarrassing. We didn't even do anything. I'm not even entirely sure if we could consider ourselves a couple. But I guess we did confess and say we love each other...that's all though. Guess were going out of order _ . I smiled to myself. I got into my cabin and pretty much immediately fell asleep, feeling more at peace. 

I woke up and did everything as I normally would. I assumed I wouldn't be able to do my training with Ace, as he's broken his leg, but I figured it shouldn't stop me. I made my way to the gym to do my daily workout with Kai. I had gotten quite a bit stronger since I joined the crew, and we once again decided to up the weights. I felt incredibly sore after it, and quickly headed to eat some breakfast. I ate quickly and ran out to the deck to work on some moves. I lost track of time and trained a lot longer than normal. Longer than I probably should have. I got caught. "(Y/N) what are you doing?" I heard Ace yell across the deck. I turned around to look at him and smiled, trying my best to look innocent. 

"I'm doing some training," I said. He frowned. 

"Weren't you supposed to take a break?" He asked, walking over. He had been giving a crutch, and he begrudgingly decided to use it. 

"Mmm no one said I had to. It hasn't been that long," I argued. 

"When did you start?"

"After breakfast like normal."

"And you trained with Kai still?" I nodded. He sighed. "Breakfast was almost two hours ago (Y/N). We've already finished our planning meeting. Stop," he told me. I bit my lip. 

"Oh….well I'm almost done I'll finish up," I tried. 

"No. You're going to hurt yourself from training so much. Go get ready," he said. I looked at him confused.

"Ready for what?"

"Our date," he smiled. 

"What?" I asked. 

"Our date! I'll come get you from your cabin in an hour. See ya!" He waved and walked away. I smiled a bit.  _ A date with Ace. _ I have no idea what we could even do, we're both on a ship and I don't think we're docking anytime soon. I supposed I would go get ready. I stopped at the kitchen before my room to grab a small snack. I got to my room and showered and stuff, realizing how sore I was from the training.  _ Guess I shouldn't have trained for so long. _ I yawned. I then went to put some clothes on. I don't have much, and I definitely don't have anything nice, we're pirates. I shrugged and put on a typical outfit, just some shorts and a crop top. I checked the time.  _ Fifteen minutes to spare...may as well take a nap _ . I jumped into bed, excited for my nap. Hopefully I'll be much more refreshed and a lot less sore after this. 

"(Y/N)?" I felt someone's hand against my cheek. "(Y/N)~" they called out. I felt my bed dip slightly before a pair of lips made their way to my forehead. My eyes fluttered open a bit. "Hey it's time for you to get up." I opened my eyes the rest of the way to see Ace smiling at me. My stomach flipped. I smiled a bit. 

"Sorry, I had a few minutes and I fell asleep," I answered, stifling a yawn. 

"I told you not to train so much," he teased. 

"I know. Sorry. Are we going?" 

"If you're ready yeah. I was going to let you sleep longer, but I'm too excited," he confessed. I laughed. 

"Okay, let's go." He quickly jumped up from my bed and pulled me up onto my feet. I followed him to the deck before he stopped near the side and smiled. I furrowed my brows, not seeing what he was so excited about. He laughed. "Look overboard," he instructed. So I looked over the ship and saw a small striker. I looked back up at him. 

"I thought you said there was no way off this ship?" I frowned. 

"I lied. I didn't want you to go~" he answered. I shook my head. 

"You sure this is a good idea for us? What if one of us falls? We can't swim," I reminded him. 

"Just hang on tight," he instructed. 

"You can barely even move with your cast. Marco is going to kill you if he finds out."

"I can move enough. It'll be fine." He carefully lowered himself into the striker, by hanging off the ship and gently falling onto it. He looked up and smiled at me. He's going to hurt himself. I followed him and jumped off the ship and onto the striker. Ace got into position to steer and I wrapped my arms around him to hold on. "Oh wait." Ace turned around and took his hat from around his neck where it was hanging. He smiled before putting it onto my head. He blushed slightly. "Can you hang onto this for me? I don't want it to fly back and hit you," he asked. I nodded and smiled. "Thanks." Soon after we set sail. It was a lot faster than I expected, but it was fun. I smiled and laughed the entire way, to wherever we were going. I hung onto Ace tight, afraid to fall in the water and drown. The wind blew through what parts of my hair weren't covered from Ace's hat. At one point during the ride, Ace decided to take a sharp turn just because, and I had to take an arm from around his waist and keep his hat in place on my head. I laughed hysterically, enjoying the ride more than I thought I would. Eventually, I saw a small island come into view. The island quickly grew as we headed for it. I rested my head on Ace's shoulder as he docked the small striker. "Have fun?" He asked. I nodded excitedly. 

"Oh yeah, way more than I thought I would. Can't wait to go back just to ride this again," I smiled. He laughed and I removed my arms from him so he could get off the striker. I followed. I took his hat off to give it back to him. He smiled and put it on himself. "Follow me," he said. I followed behind him, and we walked a short distance to a rock. I smiled when I saw a picnic set up on it. We made our way up onto it and sat down. "I thought we could have a little picnic here," he muttered. 

"I love it," I replied. He smiled. It truly was perfect. We ate and talked to each other, getting to know even more about each other. I was in the middle of talking when Ace interrupted me. "Oh wait wait wait. Shhh, it's almost time," he excitedly said. 

"Huh? What are you talking about? I was in the middle of sp-" he cut me off by putting a hand on my mouth. I frowned. I decided to lick his hand, which worked because he immediately let go. 

"Hey what was that?" He yelled. "Gross!" I smiled. 

"I didn't want your nasty hand on my mouth!" I said. 

"So you licked my nasty hand?" He laughed. I giggled. 

"Shut up."

"No you shut up and look," he argued and pointed towards the sea. I obliged and looked. My jaw dropped. A bunch of dolphins were out swimming. "Woah," I muttered. Ace turned and smiled at me.

"I heard they like to come out around two. I thought it would be fun to come see," he told me. 

"They're so cool. It's too bad I can't swim," I laughed. "And you doubley can't swim. You've got devil fruit power and a broken leg." 

"Well, we could pack up and get on the striker with them?" He offered. 

"Are you sure you should stand on your leg for that long?" I asked. He shrugged. 

"I'll be fine." We quickly packed up and did just that. I had a backpack with everything in it on my back, and Ace once again put his hat on my head. We rode with the dolphins and laughed along the way. It was incredible. Eventually we headed back towards the ship. He pulled up next to the ship, and I helped him get back up. He was able to jump up and grab onto the deck, and I pushed his good leg to get him up. Then he grabbed my hands and pulled me up. We were a laughing mess and kept slipping off the edge of the deck so it took forever to actually get up. Our laughing was soon interrupted. "Ace." We looked up and saw Marco frowning at us. "Where have you been?" Ace smiled and put his hand behind his head. 

"Hehe, I was out with (Y/N)," he answered. 

"I told you not to walk around today. Are you trying to make your leg worse? Also how stupid are you? You rode the striker I assume? Meaning you stood on that leg for a while, not to mention both of you can't swim. What would you have done if something happened?" He scolded.

"My leg is fine, and nothing happened so don't worry," he laughed. I was trying hard to not burst into laughter. 

"Honestly Ace, you need to think things through. And don't think I forgot about you (Y/N)," he looked at me and began to scold me. "You should have known how bad of an idea this was. You know Ace shouldn't be moving because he needs to heal." I pulled Ace's hat to cover my eyes and my growing smile. 

"I know, but it sounded like fun. We were careful, dad," I got out before bursting into laughter. Ace joined in and Marco frowned. 

"Haha very funny. I'm serious (Y/N) what were you all thinking?" 

"I was thinking, wow some hot guy wants to take me somewhere on a cool striker, sounds like fun. I'll make sure he doesn't put so much pressure on his leg! I'm so sorry dad, really. I didn't think you'd get so mad at me!" I screamed through my laughter. 

"There is something wrong with you two," he concluded. I gasped. 

"You're the worst dad!" I yelled. He shook his head and walked off, leaving Ace and I laughing. Ace and I eventually calmed down. I sighed and took off his hat, then put it in his head. 

"I didn't think he'd get that mad. Even I knew there was no stopping you and your terrible idea," I told him. He frowned.

"But I thought you had fun?" He asked. 

"I did have a ton of fun, but it wasn't a good idea!" I laughed. "You're just stupidly lucky!" He pouted a bit. "What matters is we had fun and no one got hurt. I would love to do it again, but we probably should go before Marco gets even more mad." I bumped my shoulder against him and he smiled and nodded. 

"Carry me?" He asked. I sighed. 

"Why are you a child?" I retorted. 

"My leg hurts~," he whined. 

"Fine, baby."

"Oooh I didn't know we were doing pet names yet babe~" he teased and my face flushed. 

"Just hurry up, I'll carry you on my back," I stammered, shaking my head. He happily hopped up and I grabbed his legs. "You're lucky I've been training, you're freaking heavy," I mumbled. 

"It's the abs," I could hear the smile on his face. 

"If you don't shut up I'm dropping you fire face," I threatened. 

"You would not! I'd hurt my leg more!"

"Try me."

"Fine I'll be quiet." I carried Ace further onto the deck to his cabin. "Or the arms," Ace snickered behind me when we had made it about halfway across the deck. I quickly let go of his legs and they hit the ground, his arms still around my neck. "(Y/N)!" He whined. 

"I told you to shut up fire face!" I argued. He pouted. We stood there a moment, his arms still hanging around me, until he leaned forward and kissed my cheek. My face started to heat up and he laughed. 

"That's my apology, take it or leave it," he whispered in my ear. I rolled my eyes. 

"Fine," I agreed, before picking him back up. I carried him the rest of the way to his cabin, then struggled to open the door. "Why is your door so stupid? Did you lock your door" I asked. He didn't answer. "Ace?" I asked. Still nothing. I looked over to my shoulder and saw him passed out.  _ Great timing. _ I sighed,  _ freaking narcolepsy _ .  _ The door has to be locked, if I were Ace where would I keep the key? I hope he's hanging on… _ I removed my hand from his thighs to search his pockets. No luck. I grabbed his hat that was hanging off his neck and looked in it. Still nothing. "Ugh," I groaned. I picked his thighs back up, about to give up and just take him to my cabin, then I had an idea. I let go of one of his legs and felt the top of his door, my hand touched metal and the key fell to the ground.  _ Haha, what idiot keeps a key there? _ I squatted and picked up the key, making sure to not drop Ace. I unlocked the door and entered his room. I walked across to his bed and set him onto it. I turned to look at him with my hands on my hips, and giggled. "You're truly something else Ace," I laughed. "Have a nice nap!" I waved on my way out from his room. He obviously needed some rest. 


End file.
